annuit

English translation: He has smiled on our undertakings

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Latin term or phrase:annuit
English translation:He has smiled on our undertakings
Entered by: John Kinory (X)

03:50 May 7, 2002
Latin to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics / text on American currancy
Latin term or phrase: annuit
annuit is the first word in the phrase on the back of the U.S. one dollar bill. It's located around the pyramid with the floating eye.
'Annuit Coeptis Novus Ordo Seciorum'
DJ
He has smiled on our undertakings/New order of the ages
Explanation:
The three mottos on the seal and their meanings are: E pluribus unum (from many, one); Annuit Coeptis (He has smiled on our undertakings); and Novus ordo seclorum (New order of the ages).

This is from one website of many. If you use the Google search engine and enter your phrases, you'll find that there are several ways to translate them. A variation of novus ordo seclorum is a new order of the ages is born.
Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 12:15
Grading comment
Thanks Kim, this will help with my research.
Your answer was brief and to the point.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2He has smiled on our undertakings/New order of the ages
Kim Metzger
4 +1he/she/it approves/has approved (by nodding)
Antoinette Verburg
5He agrees to what we have started.
David Wigtil
4It (the Eye of Providence) is favorable to our undertakings.
Gustavo Garrido


  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
It (the Eye of Providence) is favorable to our undertakings.


Explanation:
Annuit Coeptis

Providence Has Favored Our Undertakings
In the zenith of an unfinished pyramid on the reverse side of the Great Seal is "an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory . . . Over the eye, these words, Annuit Coeptis."

This Latin phrase has been traced to Virgil, the renowned Roman poet who lived in the first century B.C. In his epic masterpiece, the Aeneid, he tells the story of Aeneas – son of Venus, ancestral hero of the Romans – and his journey from Troy to Italy.

In book IX, line 625, is the phrase: "Jupiter omnipotens, audacibus annue coeptis." (All-powerful Jupiter, favor [my] daring undertakings.) Also, in Virgil's Georgics (book I, line 40) are the words: "Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus annue coeptis." (Give [me] an easy course, and favor [my] daring undertakings.)

Charles Thomson changed the first person imperative "annue" to the third person "annuit." In the motto Annuit Coeptis, the subject of the verb must be supplied, and the translator must also choose the tense.

Thomson said: "The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: the Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause."

The eye is therefore the missing subject, and the translation would be:

"It (the Eye of Providence) is favorable to our undertakings."

Variations include:
Providence has favored our undertakings
God favors our undertakings
He favors our undertakings


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Note added at 2002-05-07 04:01:52 (GMT)
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http://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/coeptis.html

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Note added at 2002-05-07 04:02:44 (GMT)
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http://mnemosyne.csl.psyc.memphis.edu/home/chipmanp/acoeptis...

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Note added at 2002-05-07 04:03:09 (GMT)
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HOPE IT PROVES USEFUL

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Note added at 2002-05-07 04:07:56 (GMT)
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DO NOT TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE SITE POSTED AT 04:03:09 (GTM)

Gustavo Garrido
Argentina
Local time: 15:15
Native speaker of: Spanish
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
He has smiled on our undertakings/New order of the ages


Explanation:
The three mottos on the seal and their meanings are: E pluribus unum (from many, one); Annuit Coeptis (He has smiled on our undertakings); and Novus ordo seclorum (New order of the ages).

This is from one website of many. If you use the Google search engine and enter your phrases, you'll find that there are several ways to translate them. A variation of novus ordo seclorum is a new order of the ages is born.


    Reference: http://www.grovewell.com/pub-american-time.html
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 12:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks Kim, this will help with my research.
Your answer was brief and to the point.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Сергей Лузан
2 hrs

agree  Egmont
298 days
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
he/she/it approves/has approved (by nodding)


Explanation:
ANNUERE or ADNUERE =

'to give assent or approval by nodding, to nod assent to, to approve, favor, allow, grant, promise to do (constr. with dat. of person, or with acc. of thing and dat. of person)

or

to designate a person or thing (by a nod, by a wink, or by the hand)'
(see reference no. 1)


ANNUIT : either PRESENT indicative active 3rd person singular
or
PERFECT indicative active 3rd person singular
(see reference no. 2)


    Reference: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout.reflookup=...
    Reference: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?lookup=annui...
Antoinette Verburg
Netherlands
Local time: 19:15
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Сергей Лузан
1 hr
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
He agrees to what we have started.


Explanation:
ANNUIT is either present tense ("he agrees") or perfect tense ("he has agreed") -- in mottoes either meaning is okay.

ANNUIT originally meant, "he nods forward," since the ancient Romans and Greeks dropped their head forward as a gesture of agreement.

RENUIT, by contrast, meant, "he nods backward," since the ancient Romans and Greeks tossed their head up and back to indicate refusal or disagreement. There's much less evidence that they shook their heads left-right-left-right to disagree, as we now do in the West. Some modern South-Asian cultures actually "shake" their heads even today when they agree with you!



David Wigtil
United States
Local time: 14:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
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