Expert: Maria - 3/5/2005

Question
On the back of a one dollar bill is written "NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM".. I have read many source that give different translations. Directly translated does it say "New order of the ages" or "New world secular order". Or perhaps it does not have a direct translation? just curious, thanks for your time.

Answer
Hello,

The accepted  translation from the Latin “NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM"  is “A new order of the ages” as NOVUS (masculine adjective agreed with the nominative ‘ordo') means ‘new'; ORDO (nominative, masculine noun)  means ‘a order' and SECLORUM (genitive plural) means ‘ of the ages'.

This sentence on the reverse of the one dollar bill drew his inspiration from Virgil (1st.century BC) who wrote the phrase  "Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo" (literally, ‘A great order of the world-ages begins anew ‘) in the fifth line of his Eclogue IV, where he expressed the longing of the world for a new era of peace and happiness.

So, “Novus ordo seclorum",  pretty close to the opening lines of the 4th Eclogue where this phrase surely refers to the new sequence of the world-ages-from Iron to Bronze to Silver to Gold- was very suitable to the beginning of the new American era in 1776, when this motto was written on the back of the  one dollar bill.

As for "New world secular order", it can be accepted if you consider that the English adjective “secular” means in this case “From century to century" - or “from age to age”.

I think however that “A new order of the ages” is the better translation.

Best regards
Maria