Latin Phrases And Their English Meanings H through P

Latin phrases And Their English Meanings 

H Through P

I am always finding Latin Phrases handy in my everyday speech. The problem, no one knows what I am saying. Sometimes I don't even know for sure. So I have created a set of lists of some common, not so common, and some completely made up Latin phrases. 

This is not just a copy of someone else's list. I have personally gone over every line and researched the Latin roots, updated the translations and/or added variations of meaning and/or given the modern colloquial phrase equivalent (imho). I have also tried to add insight or additional references to the phrase for contextual or historical perspective. 

I have broken this up alphabetically and each table is sortable within your browser as well. Just click on a heading to to re-order the table. 

Felix et Festum!

Table of Latin Phrases Beginning H through P
Latin Phrase English Meaning | Use
Habeas corpus Short for habeas corpus ad subjiciendum | Have the Body | Produce the body | Originally an order or writ, typically issued by a higher court, to get people OUT of lower ranking jails (geoles) or court systems. For instance, an English King or his court might demand a person from a lower court that was imprisoned (improperly) to stand trial in a higher court, or, in effect, to overrule the lower court's (or jailor's or sheriff or whatnot) imprisonment of this person. Generally, in common use, it came to be used as a safeguard of improper imprisonment in England and a major "right" referred to in the Magna Carta. In the United States, where crime is often sentenced at State levels, there is some grey area of its use a a safeguard. But generally speaking it is a tool to demand the court (or jail) system properly indict or charge persons and/or release them from improper detainment or imprisonment. It can be and is still is used to remand a person to a higher court as well. I wrote a nice paper on this in college if you want to know more. :) 
Haec trutina errat There is something wrong with this scale.
Heu! Tintinnuntius meus sonat! Dang! There goes my beeper!
Hic puer est stultissimus omnium! This boy is the stupidest of all
Hic si stas, hinc eris Here you stay, here you belong
Hocine bibo aut in eum digitos insero? Do I drink this or stick my fingers in it?
Homines libenter quod volunt credunt. Men freely believe what they want to. used by Julius Caesar, but probably borrowed from Terentius.
Homo homini lupus Man is a wolf to other men | Dog eat dog | Man is to man another wolf
Homo praesumitur bonus donec probetur malus One is innocent until proven guilty.
Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum A wise man doesn't piss into the wind
Huc accedit Zambonis Here come the Zambonis
Id est Long form of acronym i.e. "That Is [to say]"
Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros Life is not a bowl of cherries, or, literally, Fire tests gold; adversity tests strong men.
Illegitimi non carborundum Don't let the bastards grind you down (not really Latin)
Illegitimus non carborundum Don't let the bastards grind you down (not really Latin)
Illiud Latine dici non potest. You can't say that in Latin.
In caecus terrae, luscus rex est In the land of the blind, the one-eye-man is king.
In Dei Nomine. In the name of God
In dentibus acticis frustrum magnum spinaciae habes. You have a big piece of spinach in your teeth.
in flagrante delicto In the act | [Caught] red-handed
In his ordo est ordinem non servare. In this case the only rule is not obeying any rules.
in vinculis etiam audax In chains yet still audacious | Chained but still rebellious | Chained but still daring
In Vino Veritas In wine, truth | People speak freely when imbibing
Infans Jesu invidit assini Jesus hates a wise-arse (bad Latin)
Infra dignitatem. Undignified | Beneath our dignity
Instrumentum aeri temperando Air conditioner
Insula Gilliganis Gilligan's Island
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europe vincendarum. Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe.
Labra lege Read my lips
Lapsus alumni Error made
lapsus calumni. A slip of the pen
Latine loqui coactus sum. I have this compulsion to speak Latin.
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. The designated hitter rule has got to go.
Libera Te Ex Inferis Speaking to one person (Save yourself from hell)
Liberate Te Ex Inferis Save yourself from hell. grammatically incorrect but used as an album title by Zao and used in the movie Event Horizon
Liberate Vos Ex Inferis Save yourself from hell. Speaking to more than one persons
Luctor et emergo I struggle and emerge or Struggle and Conquor. It reflects the Dutch struggle with the sea for the last ten centuries or so. It is actually the motto of the Province Zeeland in the southwest of The Netherlands, the same Province New Zealand was named after.
Magister Mundi sum! I am Master of the World! | I am the Master of the Universe!
Malum consilium quod mutari non potest. It's a bad plan that can't be changed.Publilius Syrus 403
Manus manum lavat One hand washes the other | Hand washes hand | You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
Maxima debetur puero reverentia. We owe the greatest respect to a child.
Mea culpa I am guilty | I am culpable
Mea mihi conscientia pluris est quam omnium sermo. My conscience is more to me than what the world says.
Medio tutissmus ibis You will go most safely by the middle course
Meliora Cogito I strive for the best
Mellita, domi adsum. Honey, I'm home!
Mens sana in corpore sano A sound mind in a sound body
Mens sibi conscia recti A mind conscious of its rectitude
Merda taurorum animas conturbit Bullcrap confounds cerebellum | Bullcrap baffles brains
Meum pactum dictum My word is my bond
Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi. Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.
mirabile dictu. Wonderful to say
Modus operandi Method of work
Mors Cum Terrore Novo Venit Death has come with a new terror
Mors ultima linea rerum est Death is always final outcome | Death is always the last line drawn |
Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum, Multa recedentes adimiunt The years as they come bring many agreeable things with them; as they go, they take many away.--Horace, Ars Poetica
Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur. Pliny Many fear their reputation, few their conscience.
Musica delenit bestiam feram. Music soothes the savage beast
Musica delenit bestiam feram. Music soothes the savage beast.
Mutatis mutandis With the necessary changes
naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret You can drive nature out with a pitchfork but she always comes back. Literally, Nature can be expelled with a fork, but nevertheless always returns
Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum! Don't you dare erase my hard disk!
Ne conjugare nobiscum Don't mess with us
Ne humanus crede Trust no human.
Nemo dat quod non habet No one gives what he doesn't have.
Nemo me impune laccessit No one harms me unpunished (Scottish devis of several hundred years)
Nemo nisi mors No one but death shall part us
nemo surdior est quam is qui non audiet No man is more deaf than he who will not hear
Neutiquam erro. I am not lost.
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione. I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.
Nihil est--in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui. That's nothing--in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.
Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendum. Thinking nothing done, while anything was yet to do.
Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo. Don't call me, I'll call you.
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat. It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema. I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a poem.
Non erravi perniciose! I did not commit a fatal error!
Non Gradus Anus Rodentum! Not Worth A Rats Ass!
Non ministrari, sed ministrare Not to be served, but to serve
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomine Tu o da gloriam Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.
Non omnia possumus omnes We all cannot do everything. As Virgil explains in the Aeneid, no one has expertise in all fields.
Non scholae sed vitae discimus We learn not for the school [-master], but to live [well] | he motto is the inversion of the original, a lamentation by the Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca, in reproaching armchair philosophers: Non vitae sed scholae discimus
Non scholae, sed vitae. Not school, but life | (Abbreviated form often used as devis or motto)
Non urinat in ventum Don't urinate into the wind
nonne amicus certus in re incerta cernitur? A friend in need is a friend in deed our equivalent
Nos morituri te salutant! We, who are about to die, salute you it was used when gladiatiors were about to undergo their punishment during the Roman Circus celebrations. They hailed Cesar with that saying.
Novus Ordo Seclorum new secular order
Nullo metro compositum est. It doesn't rhyme.
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium. Take nothing for granted | There is no free lunch
Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae There is no one great ability without a mixture of madness
Nummus americanus. Buck | American Dollar | Greenback | $US
O di immortales! The Gods Immortal! | Good heavens! | (Uttered by Cicero on the Senate floor)
O diem praeclarum! Oh, what a beautiful day!
O tempora, O mores! Oh the times, oh the morals! Cicero
O! Plus! Perge! Aio! Hui! Hem! Oh! More! Go on! Yes! Ooh! Ummm!
Oblitus sum perpolire clepsydras! I forgot to polish the clocks!
Odi et amo, quare id facere forasse requiris...Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior I hated and I love, perhaps you ask why I do it...I don't know, but I feel it and I'm tortured.
Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis All things are changing, and we are changing with them
Pacta Sunt Servanda Accords or treaties should be observed, a basic principle of International Law
Pax vobiscum Peace be with you
Per aspera ad astra Through the thorns to the stars
Philosophum non facit barba The beard does not the philosopher make
Poli, poli, di umbuendo Slowly, Slowly we will get there.
Post festum pestum After the party, the hangover | After the holidays, the Plague | After the good times, the bad
Post proelia praemia. After the battles come the rewards
Postremo pensandum Quanta doctrinae commoditas sit in libris Quam facilis, quam arcana! Quam tuto libris humanae ignorantia paupertatem sine verecundia denudamus! Hi sunt magistri qui nos instruunt sine virgis et ferula, sine verbis et cholera, sine pannis et pecunia. si accedis, non dormiunt; Si inquirens interrogas, non abscondunt; Non remurmurant si oberres; Cachinnos nesciunt, si ignores. And finally, one must consider how great the ease of learning there is in books, how yielding, how trusty ! How safely we reveal, without shyness, in the face of our books the poverty of our human ignorance ! They are teachers who instruct us without switches or rods, without slaps or anger, without notice of rags or riches. If you approach them , they are not asleep; If you ask a question, they do not hide; They do not mutter at you if you make a mistake; When you are ignorant, they do not know how to laugh at you. (Richard de BuryPhilobiblon, I, 9)
Prehende uxorem meam, sis! Take my wife, please!
Prescriptio in manibus tabellariorium est. The check is in the mail.
Primum non nocere First do no harm
Primum viveri deinde philosophari Live before you philosophize | Leap before you look.
Propino tibi salutem! To your health! Cheers!
Prospice tibi--ut Gallia, tu quoque in tres partes dividareis. Watch out--you might end up divided into three parts, like Gaul.
Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum. Garbage in, garbage out.



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