Novus ordo seclorum

File:Great Seal of the United States (reverse).svg

Reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States

The phrase Novus ordo seclorum (Template:IPAc-en, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; "New order of the ages") is one of two Latin mottos on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. The other motto is Annuit cœptis. The mottos were coined by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Congress of the Confederation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="GREATSEAL" />

Thomson derived the phrase Novus ordo seclorum from a poem by the Roman poet Virgil. He wrote that the phrase signified "the beginning of the New American Era" as of the date of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was depicted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid on the seal.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="GREATSEAL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Origin

The phrase derives from the fourth poem of the Eclogues by the Latin poet Virgil.<ref name=":0" /> The fourth eclogue contains the passage (lines 4–10):<ref>P. Vergilius Maro, Eclogues, J. B. Greenough, Ed.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The motto is specifically a rephrasing of the second line: "Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo" (The great cycle of ages is born anew).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Meaning

The forms saecla, saeclorum etc. were normal alternatives to the more common saecula etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The form saeculorum is impossible in hexameter verse: the ae and o are long, the u short by position.

The word seclorum does not mean "secular", but is the genitive (possessive) plural form of the word saeculum, meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age. Saeculum did come to mean "age, world" in late, Christian Latin, and "secular" is derived from it, through secularis. However, the adjective "secularis," meaning "worldly," is not equivalent to the genitive plural "seclorum," meaning "of the ages."<ref>Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1879, s. vv.</ref>

The motto Novus ordo seclorum was translated and added to the seal by Charles Thomson, a Latin expert who was involved in the design of the Great Seal, as "A new order of the ages." Thomson said it was to signify "the beginning of the new American Era" as of the date of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was depicted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid on the seal.<ref name=":1">"The Great Seal of the United States," U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C., July 2003, pp. 4, 5, 15. PDF of official brochure.</ref><ref name="GREATSEAL"/>

See also

• Annuit cœptis
• E pluribus unum
• Eye of Providence
• List of Latin phrases
• List of national mottos
• List of U.S. state and territory mottos
• United States national motto

References

Template:List of official United States national symbols {{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:Charles Thomson