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Quiz about Latin Mottos Quotes and Abbreviations

Latin Mottos, Quotes and Abbreviations Quiz

Some Latin is still used in English today. Although I hope you won't cheat, a great site for the truly stumped is www.forumromanum.org

A multiple-choice quiz by gaiseric. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
gaiseric

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
139,826

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
656

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. What state's motto is "Nil sine numine" ("Nothing without divine will")? Hint

Arizona

New York

Oklahoma

Colorado

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Question 2 of 10

2. At what famous university would you be if you saw a plaque reading "Dominus illuminatia mea" ("The LORD is my light")? Hint

Princeton

Cambridge

Oxford

Yale

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Question 3 of 10

3. Who summed up the torments of romance when he began a poem, "Odi et amo" ("I hate and I love")? Hint

Horace

Catullus

Vergil

Petrarch

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Question 4 of 10

4. If you were to see the abbreviation b.i.d on your medicine bottle, how many times per day should you take it?

Answer: (No hints!)

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Question 5 of 10

5. When John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, supposedly he issued the exclamation, "sic semper tyrannis" ("Thus always to tyrants"). What state adopted that as its motto? Hint

Virginia

Mississippi

Alabama

Texas

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Question 6 of 10

6. The phrase, "Labor omnia vincit" ("Work conquers all") is the motto of both Oklahoma and the American Federation of Labor.

True

False

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Question 7 of 10

7. What Latin playwright wrote the phrase, which later served as a humanist motto: "Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto" ("I am a man: I consider nothing human foreign to me") Hint

Plautus

Terence

Seneca the younger

Accius

8. Latin phrases abound in legal courts. For example, an 'argumentum ad absurdum' is an argument based on (or taken to) absurdity. An 'argumentum ad invidiam' is an appeal to envy. An argument against the matter at hand is an 'Argumentum ad ____".

Answer: (Similar to band's name.)

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Question 9 of 10

9. Latin also (used to) abounds in the Catholic Mass. If you were to hear a priest say "Deus misereatur nobis", what does he mean? Hint

God is made miserable by us

God has mercy on us

May God have mercy on us

We pity God

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Question 10 of 10

10. And in an apt finish to this quiz, what Roman emperor's dying words supposedly were "acta est fabula" -- "the play is finished". Hint

Augustus

Caligula

Constantine

Julius Caesar

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What state's motto is "Nil sine numine" ("Nothing without divine will")?

Answer: Colorado

Although it sounds biblical, it is drawn from line 777/778 of Vergil's Aeneid, book II, "non haec sine numine devum Eveniunt" -- These things do not happen without the divine will of the gods.

2. At what famous university would you be if you saw a plaque reading "Dominus illuminatia mea" ("The LORD is my light")?

Answer: Oxford

Not a bad motto, my favorite though is that of Winchester College, "aut disce aut discede" -- "either learn or leave".

3. Who summed up the torments of romance when he began a poem, "Odi et amo" ("I hate and I love")?

Answer: Catullus

The line is found in the terse poem #85, which I quote in full in translation here.

"I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured." (Trans. Leonard Smithers)

4. If you were to see the abbreviation b.i.d on your medicine bottle, how many times per day should you take it?

Answer: 2

The abbreviation stands for "bis in die" - twice a day.

5. When John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln, supposedly he issued the exclamation, "sic semper tyrannis" ("Thus always to tyrants"). What state adopted that as its motto?

Answer: Virginia

In addition, there is a Seinfeld episode in which Jerry is attacked by a man shouting 'sic semper tyrannis' -- Latin quotes even in popular culture.

6. The phrase, "Labor omnia vincit" ("Work conquers all") is the motto of both Oklahoma and the American Federation of Labor.

Answer: True

Note also the rather optimistic "Amor vincit omnia" - "Love conquers all".

7. What Latin playwright wrote the phrase, which later served as a humanist motto: "Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto" ("I am a man: I consider nothing human foreign to me")

Answer: Terence

The line is from the play "Heauton Timoroumenos" (The self-tormentor)

Answer: rem

My favorite argument expression is an 'argumentum ad crumenam' -- an appeal based on a pocketbook.

9. Latin also (used to) abounds in the Catholic Mass. If you were to hear a priest say "Deus misereatur nobis", what does he mean?

Answer: May God have mercy on us

For those interested, the following provides a link to the words and music from a 1620 "pratum spirituale": http://www.saers.com/recorder/mondrup/Pedersen/Misereatur/miserc.pdf

10. And in an apt finish to this quiz, what Roman emperor's dying words supposedly were "acta est fabula" -- "the play is finished".

Answer: Augustus

Caesar's last words, were, according to Shakespeare, "Et tu, Brute" ("And you, Brutus"?) However, more reliable sources claim it was in Greek, and he said "kai su technon" ("even you, my son"). Caligula, always something of a 'jerk', had one of my favorite emperor quotes, "Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet" ("Would that the Roman people had one neck.") Alas, I know of no Constantine quotes, so I conclude with an adaption of Augustus' last words: "interrogatio finis est". And I trust that needs no translation.

Source: Author gaiseric

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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