Expert: Maria - 8/28/2004

Question
Hi Maria!

I believe the following is the motto for the Sorbonne culinary institute in Paris... but I can't figure out what it means. Can you help?

Fluctuat nec mergitur  

Answer
Hello,

Actually the Latin sentence “Fluctuat nec mergitur” is the motto of the city of Paris, which is represented by a ship in full sail.

This inscription on Paris' coat of arms means literally:
”It pitches and tosses, but does not sink”,
and  was at the beginning the logo of the emblem that belonged to the "Nautes" , i.e. the water dealers, a powerful corporation that perceived taxes by controlling fluvial navigation on the river Seine from Burgundy to Rouen.
In 1246, under the reign of Saint Louis, they set up the first municipal assembly that gathered in a council-room close to the Châtelet in Paris.
Since then, the city of Paris got the emblem of a ship with the motto  "Fluctuat nec mergitur"  which was exactly the corporation's one.

Please note that:
FLUCTUAT= it (i.e. the ship) pitches and tosses (or, ‘is tossed by the waves')
NEC MERGITUR= but it does not sink

Best regards
Maria