Expert: Maria - 7/8/2009

Question
Maria, could you please translate our family motto "Mortalis non opto" for me. I think it means "death not wished for", but this does not make much sense.
Thank you for your help. A clue is the family shield with a sun half argent, half black -- "the dyeing sun" which is a play on words, since the Dyson family was involved in the wool trade (dyeing) when the patent was granted. At the time, England's economy was based on the textile trade.
A  family tradition has it that the name Dy-son (dyeing son) was a code for the family being christian.

Answer
Hello,

Your family motto “Mortalis non opto” must be translated  literally as :”I do not desire to be mortal” / “I do not wish for being mortal”, i.e. “I want to be immortal”.

Such a motto in fact can mean either  that your ancestors wished for being immortal in the sense that they  firmly hoped that  their family could last a long time during the centuries, or that they wanted to imply their Christian Church membership just because the motto “Mortalis non opto” (”I do not desire to be mortal”) can be related to the Christian immortality of the soul.

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria
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GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

-MORTALIS (adjective in the nominative case) = mortal
Note that Latin has omitted the  infinitive  ESSE meaning “to be” or “for being”.

-NON OPTO (negative adverb plus the present indicative  “opto”) = I do not wish/desire