Expert: Maria - 7/10/2009

Question
Hi Maria: on 5/31/04 you replied to someone asking about their (Quinn) family motto "Quae sursum volo videre," noting it meant "That which is up I want to see." I have sen various similar translations which, however, rather than "up" will translate "sursum" as "above" or "heavenly things," or something like that. Are all of these equally valid translations, or are they taking some artistic license using something like "heavenly?"

Answer
Hello,

The correct translation of “Quae sursum volo videre” can be either "That which is up I want to see" ( literal ) or “I wish to see what is on high ” in the sense of “I wish to see what is up in the sky”, just to emphasize that Pegasus, the famous flying horse of Greek myth, that appears on the Quinn family crest, flew high and then  saw  what was  up in the sky, i.e.  heavenly things, not however in a religious sense.

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

-QUAE ( relative pronoun QUI in the neuter plural)=that which / what
(literally, 'those things which')

-SURSUM (adverb) = up /on high/ up in the sky. Latin has omitted the verb equivalent to English "is" simply because in Latin it is implied.As for "above" for "sursum", it is not appropriate in this context.

-VOLO =I want

-VIDERE (infinitive of VIDEO, I see)= to see