Expert: Maria - 4/12/2007

Question
Maria:

 I am planning a military-style wedding, and part of the planning is a little family research. I have identified the family coat of arms, and the motto has baffled me. I have been able to find no translators that recognize or can translate the motto to English. you are my last hope!! the motto is: "Fuimus, et sub Deo Arimus". Could you please tell me what that means in English?

Answer
Hello,

Glad to help you.

So, the motto “Fuimus, et sub Deo Erimus (not ‘Arimus’) means:

“We have been, and we shall be under God”.

Such a motto points out of course that your family wished to be always under God’s protection.

All the best,
Maria
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Note that:

-FUIMUS (1st.person plural, perfect tense of SUM, I am) = We have been

-ET= and

-SUB (preposition which takes the ablative case) = under

-DEO (ablative of DEUS) =God

-ERIMUS (1st.person plural, future tense of SUM) =we shall be

As you can see, Latin word order can be different from English.