Editing Sator Square (section)

==Translation==

===Individual words===

The words are in Latin, and the following translations are known by scholars:<ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>

:;{{lang|la|SATOR}}: (nominative noun; from {{lang|la|serere}}, "to sow") sower, planter, founder, progenitor ([[List of Roman agricultural deities#Other indigitamenta|usually divine]]); originator; literally 'seeder';<ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>
:;{{lang|la|AREPO}} : unknown word, perhaps a proper name, either invented to complete the palindrome or of a non-Latin origin (see [[#Arepo interpretations|§ Arepo interpretations]]);<ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>
:;{{lang|la|TENET}} : (verb; from {{lang|la|tenere}}, 'to hold') he/she/it holds, keeps, comprehends,  possesses, masters, preserves, sustains;<ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>
:;{{lang|la|OPERA}} : (ablative [see [[wiktionary:opera#Latin|opera]]] singular noun) service, pains, labor; care, effort, attention;<ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>
:;{{lang|la|ROTAS}} : ({{lang|la|rotās}}, accusative plural of {{lang|la|rota}}) wheels. <ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/>

===Sentence construction===
[[File:Grenoble - Sator 01.jpg|thumb|right|Sator form of the square on a door in [[Grenoble]], France]]
The most direct sentence translation is: "The sower (or, farmer) Arepo holds the wheels with care (or, with care the wheels)".<ref name=MRS/><ref name=":0"/><ref name=Hemer/><ref name=RB/><ref>{{cite book | title=The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism | author-link=David Daube | first=David | last=Daube | page=403 | date=2011 | isbn=978-1610975100 | publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]]}}</ref> Similar translations include: "The farmer Arepo works his wheels",<ref name=M1>{{cite web|website=[[Pepys Library|Magdalene College Libraries]]|url=https://magdlibs.com/2019/11/19/sator-squares/|title=Sator Squares|first=Ellie|last=Swire|date=19 November 2019|access-date=13 October 2021}}</ref> or "Arepo the sower (sator) guides (tenet) the wheel (rotas) with skill (opera)".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://coriniummuseum.org/2021/07/the-sator-square-by-isobel-wilkes/ | website=[[Corinium Museum]] | first=Isobel | last=Wilkes | date=19 July 2021 | access-date=13 September 2022 | title=The SATOR Square}}</ref>

Some academics, such as French historian [[Jules Quicherat]],<ref name=":0"/> believe the square should be read in a [[boustrophedon]] style (i.e. in alternating directions).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ceram |first=C. W. |year=1958 |title=The March of Archaeology |url=https://archive.org/details/marchofarchaeolo00cera |url-access=registration |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-3944-3528-1 |lccn=58-10977 | page=30}}</ref>  The boustrophedon style, which in Greek means "as the ox plows", emphasizes the agricultural aspect of the text of the square.<ref name=MRS/>  Such a reading when applied to the SATOR-form square, and repeating the central word TENET, gives SATOR OPERA TENET – TENET OPERA SATOR, which has been very loosely interpreted as: "as ye sow, so shall ye reap",<ref name=":0"/> while some believe the square should be read as just three words – SATOR OPERA TENET, which they loosely translate as: "The Creator (the author of all things) maintains his works"; both of which could imply Graeco-Roman [[Stoicism|Stoic]] and/or [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] origins.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=ENC/>

British academic Duncan Fishwick observes that the translation from the boustrophedon approach fails when applied to a ROTAS-form square;<ref name=":0"/> however, Belgian scholar [[Paul Grosjean]] reversed the boustrophedon rule on the ROTAS-form (i.e. starting on the right-hand side instead of the left) to get SAT ORARE POTEN, which loosely translates into the Jewish call to prayer, "are you able to pray enough?".<ref name=MRS/><ref name=":0"/>

===Arepo interpretations===
The word AREPO is a [[hapax legomenon]], appearing nowhere else in attested Latin literature. Some academics believe it is likely a proper name, or possibly a [[theophoric name]], that was adapted from a non-Latin word or was invented specifically for the Sator square.<ref name=":0"/> French historian [[Jerome Carcopino]] believed that it came from the [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] word for a 'plough'; however, this has been discounted by other academics.{{efn|Duncan Fishwick showed that this translation into plough was based on a "faulty knowledge of Latin, if not of Greek",<ref name=":0"/> and Fishwick's view was reinforced by French historian [[Robert Étienne]].<ref name=Conimbriga/>}}<ref name=":0"/> American ancient legal historian [[David Daube]] believed that AREPO represented a [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] or [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] rendition of the ancient Greek for [[alpha]] ({{lang|grc|Ἄλφα}}) and [[omega]] ({{lang|grc|ω}}), bespeaking the "[[Alpha and Omega|Alpha-Omega]]" concept (cf. [[Isaiah 44#Verse 6|Isiah 44.6]], and [[Revelation 1:8]]) from early Judeo-Christianity.<ref name=MRS/> [[J. Gwyn Griffiths]] contended that the term AREPO came, via [[Alexandria]], from the attested Egyptian name "Hr-Hp" (''[[wikt:ḥr|ḥr]] [[wikt:ḥp|ḥp]]''), which he took to mean "the face of [[Apis (egyptian mythology)|Apis]]".<ref name=MRS/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Griffith|first=J. Gwyn|title='Arepo' in the Magic 'Sator' Square|journal=The Classical Review|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] (CUP)|volume=21|issue=1|year=1971|issn=0009-840X|doi=10.1017/s0009840x00262999|pages=6–8|s2cid=161291159 }}</ref> In 1983, Serbian-American scholar [[Miroslav Marcovich]] proposed the term AREPO as a Latinized abbreviation of [[Harpocrates]] (or "[[Horus]]-the-child"), god of the rising sun, also called {{lang|grc|Γεωργός `Aρπον}}, which Marcovich suggests corresponds to SATOR AREPO. This would translate the square as: "The sower Horus/Harpocrates keeps in check toils and tortures".<ref name=MRS/><ref name=MM>{{cite journal |title=SATOR AREPO = ΓΕΩΡΓΟΣ ̔ΑΡΠΟΝ(ΚΝΟΥΦΙ) ΑΡΠΩΣ (''geōrgos arpon''[''knouphi''] ''arpōs''), arpo(cra), harpo(crates) | first=Miroslav | last=Marcovich | author-link=Miroslav Marcovich |journal=[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]] |volume=50 |year=1983 |pages=155–171|jstor=20183770}}</ref><ref name=ENC/>

Duncan Fishwick, among other academics, believed that AREPO was simply a residual word that was required to complete what is a complex and sophisticated palindrome (which Fishwick believed was embedded with hidden Jewish symbolism, per the "Jewish Symbol" origin theory below), and to expect more from the word was unreasonable from its likely Jewish creators.<ref name=Fishwick/>

===Further anagrams===

Attempts have been made to discover "hidden meanings" by the [[Anagram|anagrammatic method]] of rearranging the letters of which the square is composed.<ref name=MRS/>

* In 1883, German historian [[Gustav Fritsch]] reformed the letters to discover an invocation to Satan:<ref name=MRS/><ref name=":0"/>
*:SATAN, ORO TE, PRO ARTE A TE SPERO
*:SATAN, TER ORO TE, OPERA PRAESTO
*:SATAN, TER ORO TE, REPARATO OPES
* French historian [[Guillaume de Jerphanion]] catalogued examples that were known formulas for an [[exorcism]] such as:<ref name=":0"/>
*:RETRO SATANA, TOTO OPERE ASPER, and the prayers
*:ORO TE PATER, ORO TE PATER, SANAS
*:O PATER, ORES PRO AETATE NOSTRA
*:ORA, OPERARE, OSTENTA TE PASTOR
* In 1887, Polish [[Ethnography|ethnographer]] [[Oskar Kolberg]] amended the strict anagrammatic approach by using abbreviations and thus deduced from the 25 letters of the Sator Square the 36 letters of the monastic rule: SAT ORARE POTEN (TER) ET OPERA(RE) R(ATI)O T(U)A S(IT),<ref name=":0"/> which he considered an ancient rule of the Benedictines; French historian Gaston Letonnelier made a similar approach in 1952 to get the Christian prayer: SAT ORARE POTEN(TIA) ET OPER(A) A ROTA S(ERVANT), which translates as: "Prayer is our strength and will save us from the wheel (of fate?)".<ref name=MRS/>
* In 1935, German art historian {{ill|Kuno von Hardenberg|de}} believed he discovered the relief the [[Rose of Sharon]] gave to [[Saint Peter]] for the sin of his denial of Christ, with the anagram PETRO ET REO PATET ROSA SARONA, which translates as "For Peter even guilty the rose of Sharon is open"; academics refuted his interpretation.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=":0"/>
* In 2003, American historian [[Rose Mary Sheldon]] listed some of the many diverse sentences that can be produced from anagrams of the square including her favorite: APATOR NERO EST, which would translate as saying that the Roman emperor [[Nero]] was the result of a virgin birth.<ref name=MRS/>