Expert: Maria - 3/31/2008

Question
I have a family motto for the name "Monet" the says "florens suo arbe Monet." I don't even know where to begin in translating this motto. Any halp would be very much appreciated.

Answer
Hello,

I’m sorry, but “florens suo arbe Monet” is absolutely wrong in Latin and then makes no sense.

Are you sure that this phrase is correct?

Also ‘Monet‘ is the French surname?

Anyway in Latin MONET is the present indicative, 3rd.person singular of MONEO and means “he warns /advises/ exorts”;  FLORENS is the present participle of FLOREO and means “flourishing”; SUO is the dative/ablative case of the possessive SUUS meaning “his”/”her/ its”, while ARBE does not exist at all in Latin where we have ARBORE, ablative of ARBOR meaning ‘tree’.

So, as you can see, unfortunately such a phrase makes no sense at all in Latin and moreover it is not in ancient Greek language.

Regards,
Maria