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Sola virtus invicta

English translation: Bravery alone is invincible

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Latin term or phrase:Sola virtus invicta
English translation:Bravery alone is invincible
Entered by: Chris Rowson (X)

03:01 Jan 10, 2003
Latin to English translations [Non-PRO]
Latin term or phrase: Sola virtus invicta
It is the motto on the english coat of arms under the last name howard
Timothy Howard
Bravery alone is invincible
Explanation:
Or "courage alone is invincible", or a few other options, but not, please, "virtue". The Latin "virtus" is rarely well translated with "virtue". Notice its relationship with the word "vir", meaning man: it means the quality of manliness, which the Romans strongly associated with strength, courage, bravery, capacity, worth, etc. - "the sum of all the corporeal or mental excellences of man". (Don´t blame me, this is the Roman concept.) See reference.

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Note added at 2003-01-10 04:38:45 (GMT)
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Yes, I know if you search with Google you will find the \"virtue\" translation all over the place. But this does not make it correct. Translation by Google is not always reliable.
Selected response from:

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 03:26
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +5Bravery alone is invincible
Chris Rowson (X)
4 +3virtue alone is invincible
swisstell
5Virtue Alone is Invincible
Rowan Morrell
5Only morality is invincible
Eva Blanar


  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
virtue alone is invincible


Explanation:
only courage is inconquerable
courage alone is undefeatable

along those lines, because
a) invictus means inconquerable, undefeated
b) virtus means character, worth, courage, virtue.
After further consultation, this time with Google, I go for the first proposal




swisstell
Italy
Local time: 03:26
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in pair: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rowan Morrell: Yes, I favour the first one as well.
1 min
  -> thanks, Rowan, and good night!
agree  Andres Pacheco
30 mins
  -> gracias, Andrés
neutral  Chris Rowson (X): "virtus" is a false friend, it does not usually mean "virtue".
48 mins
  -> hence my listing of worth, courage, character etc. AND still, the proposal has been repeatedly confirmed by old Google.
agree  Estella
1 day 8 hrs
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Virtue Alone is Invincible


Explanation:
According to the site below (and also to several others). Do a search for "sola virtus invicta" and "howard" and you'll find quite a few interesting Web sites with a history of the Howard family (and some that translate the motto). Hope this has helped.


    Reference: http://home.istar.ca/~showard/history.html
Rowan Morrell
New Zealand
Local time: 13:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Chris Rowson (X): "virtus" is a false friend, it does not usually mean "virtue".
48 mins
  -> OK, thanks for the info.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
Bravery alone is invincible


Explanation:
Or "courage alone is invincible", or a few other options, but not, please, "virtue". The Latin "virtus" is rarely well translated with "virtue". Notice its relationship with the word "vir", meaning man: it means the quality of manliness, which the Romans strongly associated with strength, courage, bravery, capacity, worth, etc. - "the sum of all the corporeal or mental excellences of man". (Don´t blame me, this is the Roman concept.) See reference.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-01-10 04:38:45 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes, I know if you search with Google you will find the \"virtue\" translation all over the place. But this does not make it correct. Translation by Google is not always reliable.


    Reference: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atex...
Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 03:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 49
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rowan Morrell: Good informative answer, which should win the points (well it would if I were the asker).
6 mins
  -> Thank you :-)
agree  Flavio Ferri-Benedetti: Exactly, Chris :)
4 hrs
agree  Joseph Brazauskas: Excellent job.
4 hrs
agree  Giusi Pasi
13 hrs
agree  cmk (X)
50 days
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Only morality is invincible


Explanation:
or only virtuousness is invincible

Yes, I agree with those who point out the importance of the "male" character in virtus (the same sentence would be probably chastity in case of women), but in this case, the message is rather about inner values than courage or bravery.

Eva Blanar
Hungary
Local time: 03:26
Native speaker of: Hungarian
PRO pts in pair: 34
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