Create your own life mottos and slogans in Latin!

(Learning Latin not required,
some vague idea for a desired motto a plus)


'Dr Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every thing intended to be universal and permanent, should be. '

James Boswell,
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

Short Latin sayings have been traditionally used in heraldry as slogans and mottos (life mottos, family mottos, state mottos, senior class mottos etc.). Hence Semper fidelis, the Marine Corps motto, Carpe diem, a life motto for Casanova types and Memento mori, a stern reminder to all. If you desire to make your own Latin motto, but don't want to go back to school and take a Latin course, don't feel like learning Latin independently, and have no intention employ professional translation services -- this set of scripts is designed to offer some help.


1. (NOUN) and (NOUN)
Example: Deus et patria God and country.

and





2. (NOUN), (NOUN) and (NOUN)
Example: Tellus, ventus et ignis Earth, wind and fire.

, and



3. From/out of (NOUN) (NOUN)
Example: Ex luna sapientia From the moon, knowledge.

From



4. (NOUN) (TRANSITIVE VERB) (OBJECT)
Example: Deus me vocat God calls (is calling) me.



5. In (NOUN) (NOUN)
Example: In gloria pax. Peace in glory.

In



Although this Latin motto generator is primarily intended for educational purpuses, you are welcome to become inspired by some cool life mottos you create here. Or you just may want to spice up your MySpace layout with a Latin slogan. You will be automatically regarded as a tasteful person of considerable learning. You may even be considered an embodiment of wisdom. All that without ever graduating from highschool or taking a Latin class. A motto can also greatly improve the looks of your family tree. Whether you live by it or not, that's up to you :) It is never too late for any family to adopt a slogan!

You will quickly recognize the patterns used in this generator - they are the same as in many popular mottos. Simply choose appropriate English words and click on "Create Motto". The script will take care of arranging the resulting Latin words in the right order and putting them in correct grammatical forms. For clarity's sake all mottoes are shown in lowercase, however if you want to change them to all caps it is a custom to replace U's with V's, as in old inscriptions. Ancient Romans did not distinguish between these two letters. They also did not differentiate between lower an upper case letters. So, instead of DEUS ET PATRIA you should preferably have DEVS ET PATRIA. These are, of course, minor points. Just something to consider if you indeed decide to use these mottos anywhere. Or perhaps you are here simply wanting to know a Latin word for 'fire', 'love' or 'truth'? That's cool too, just use the nominatives in the very first script. Enjoy!


Additional patterns will gradually become available, as I come up with ideas for additional patterns. In fact, an entirely new edition of this motto generator is already being planned... These scripts will not render anything as complex as Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (By the sword she seeks peace, but peace only under liberty, Massachusetts state motto), or some clever catch phrase that you might come up with, but there is plenty of depth and pathos in the results you might get. You might even uncover some universal maxims with deep meaning worthy of being adopted as personal mottos and summarize your thoughts about life. Be sure to exercise extreme caution while attempting to use computer generated text for tattoos, logos, religious jewelry, wedding rigns, gravestones etc. (in case if you were wondering why learn Latin at all, it is a must for any tattoo artist). Always remember that if the sentence you are trying to translate makes little sense in English it is not likely to be meaningful in Latin! If you are looking for some aphorism or just a phrase with a deep meaning there are plenty of pages on this site that can offer some help. If you have an idea about a possible new pattern for this generator, leave a comment to any entry on my blog.

// Looking for a "Lorem ipsum" generator? Look no further! //
// There is also a list of Latin quotes, mottos and phrases with translations //