De mortus nil nisi bonum
Zeno
good". Is that what it means?
- Zeno
BTW: My brother wrote it down after reading an Isaac Asimov story in
which this was the line meant to sum up the whole story.
Reuben R Lee
About the dead (say) nothing unless (it is)good...
Reuben R. Lee
George Partlow
>
> Zeno wrote:
> >
> > "De mortus nil nisi bonum" sounds like it means "Of death, nothing is
> > good". Is that what it means?
> More properly De mortuis nil nisi bonum:
> About the dead (say) nothing unless (it is)good...
I can't resist posting a limerick of John Ciardi's:
Here lies an old stinker from Stoneham.
I can't say I'm glad to have known 'im.
He was filthy, a cheat,
A rat-fink, a dead-beat,
But 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.'
I've always used the maxim with the sense of "It's not polite to speak
ill of the dead", but it occurs to me that it may have its origins in an
era when people believed that the ghosts of their ancestors could cause
Bad Things to happen to the living, if they were so rash as thgtlessly
Say The Wrong Thing. Any erudite readers who can say whether this is an
accurate assessment of its roots in Roman religion, vulgar so-called?
Matthew S.
George Partlow <George_...@labor.state.ak.us> wrote in message
news:3B182C4C...@labor.state.ak.us...
There is a site on the web, Sententiae Latinae, which features famous
latin quotes. The quote, "De mortuis nihil nisi bene." is featured, which
is translated as "Nothing but good about the dead.", said by Cheilon of
Sparta; quoted by Horace.
As far as I know, Romans were not particularly concerned with the dead,
having only the general idea of some misty afterlife. It could be that they
were more concerned with offending whatever god happened to have favored the
deceased. However, I am by no means an expert on the topic of Greek/Roman
belief systems, so I could very well be wrong.
Frank Van Heden
about deceased persons you may (can) only tell good things.
Frank
Zeno heeft geschreven in bericht
<4C201DDD5024EAF4.BC49C754...@lp.airnews.net>...
George Partlow
> There is a site on the web, Sententiae Latinae, which features famous
> latin quotes. The quote, "De mortuis nihil nisi bene." is featured, which
> is translated as "Nothing but good about the dead.", said by Cheilon of
> Sparta; quoted by Horace.
Gratias tibi ago!
Unfortunately I've been unable to find out anything about the context in which Cheilon
(or Chilon, or Chilo, there seem to be several forms of the ephor's name in English!)
is supposed to have said this. Seems fairly clear that it has nothing to do with
Roman religion, though.
George
Zeno
different than what I thought. (It's awfully hard to understand Latin
when you don't know what the word endings indicate :-).) My brother
says the correct meaning makes much more sense than my ignorant
translation.
Special thanks to George Partlow for the limerick, which will help me
remember the phrase. (I need all the help I can get!)
Thanks again, everyone...
- Zeno
Hartmut Gastens
George Partlow schrieb:
> "Matthew S." <triu...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:<ccbS6.20563$Ip5.4...@e3500-atl1.usenetserver.com>...
> Unfortunately I've been unable to find out anything about the context in which Cheilon
> (or Chilon, or Chilo, there seem to be several forms of the ephor's name in English!)
> is supposed to have said this.
>
Diogenes Laertius, Chilon 1,70 seems to be the right place.
greetinx
Hartmut
--
*********************************************************
Hartmut Gastens
e-mail: gas...@addcom.de
*********************************************************
Wendy Geerts
Mors, mortis, f. is Death, in every form, natural or violent , often
personified (see Lewis-Short on www.perseus.tufts.edu)
Sometimes (poet.) you can use 'mors' for a corpse, dead body.
mori, morior, mortuus sum (dep.) is the verb.
From this you can use mortuus as an adj. like "bonus", this adj. you can use
as a noun..
So if we talk about the maxim "about dead peole.." you'll find "de mortuis
nil nisi bene/bonum"
It is assigned to Cheilon of Sparta, quoted by some people, I tried typing
it in a search engine.. :-)
Wendy