Wednesday, October 5, 2011

festina lente



festina lente [fɛsˈtinɑ ˈlɛntɛ] v. phr. (imper.)

1.) Make haste slowly, do not be impetuous (Dictionary of Foreign Words, Adrian Room (ed.), 2000).

Etymology: Latin, lit. "hasten slowly", from festina, imperative of festinare to hasten + lente, slowly. The phrase was originally a Greek proverb, quoted by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus in De vita Caesarum as a favorite motto of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.

"And thus also must that picture be taken of a dolphin clasping an anchor; that is, not really, as is by most conceived out of affection unto man, conveying the anchor unto the ground; but emblematically, according as Pierius hath expressed it, the swiftest animal conjoined with that heavy body, implying that common moral, festina lente: and that celerity should always be contempered with cunctation" (Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Thomas Browne, 1646).

(Battaglia di Azio, Lorenzo Castro, 1672)
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This one in honor of HYDRIOTAPHIA. Also, it's nice to get back to the good old Ancient Greek and Roman foundations. Thanks for reading!

20 comments:

Mai Yang said...

sounds Latin ^_^

okay..it is Latin..hahaha!

D4 said...

It sounds Italian to me. I see someone bringing me a plate of spaghetti and telling them "festina lente!" even though it makes no sense.

AllenTesch said...

Good vocab and life lesson.

Kevin Faulkner said...

As soon as I saw the word I thought of sending you the quote but you anticipated me ! Email me E for a big list of Brunonian neologisms for your perusal and occasional use.

Unknown said...

Hasten slowly? Okay, I think I understand. Actually, it seems a rather interesting. (I feel like I am forever saying interesting. I think I may need to expand my vocab even further.)

A Beer for the Shower said...

Is it just me or is this a classic oxymoron?

themajessty said...

It's JUST like you to choose a word that sounds/looks like that. I cringe just looking at it. ):

Hasidic Plumber said...

ABFTS is right. Aaand yep, it's definitely latin.
Useless fact of the day: there is a shitty watches brand called festina.

meandmythinkingcap said...

Sounds like an oxymoron. Haste slowly?

neatfit said...

Well, it is Latin. That is a pretty cool quote from 1646.

Melanie said...

I love it!

Michael Westside said...

I'm pretty sure you're just making up words now.

Shutterbug said...

don't you just love oxymorons!

MRanthrope said...

I agree with AllenTesch

Unknown said...

hahahaha, today's comments are funny. Basically, increase acceleration slowly, right?

Bibi said...

I festino through life. Should add a bit of lente every now and then. You know, to loosen up a little.

Anyhow, I've always thought this was an interesting one. Thanks for adding it to your list.

DEZMOND said...

nice one, Edmund, love the painting too!

Jodie-Ann Muckler said...

LOL Michael Westside's comment made me LOL.

Jenny Woolf said...

Festina lente always strikes me as particularly good advice. It was the motto of my school, for some reason. Wonder why. I never thought to ask at the time.

Nicole Leigh Shaw said...

I love this one. I'm going to do a blog post around it. I'll share the post when it's published.

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