Dum spiro spero

Dum spiro spero means "While I breathe, I hope"[1] in Latin and is a modern paraphrase of ideas that survive in two ancient writers, Theocritus[2] and Cicero.[3]

It is a motto of various places and organisations.

Use

• The notable origin of the motto is St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Its attribution to Saint Andrew and his bones being taken to this small fishing village on the North Sea, contributed to its direct linkage between the saying, the town, the University of St Andrews and the Saint.
• It is also the motto of:
  • South Carolina[4]
  • the Kingdom of Sarawak.[5][6]
  • the Principality of Hutt River
  • Cothill House Preparatory School in Oxfordshire, England.[7]
  • Burstow Park House, in Surrey England
  • The Czech Army's 601st Special Forces Group, based in Prostějov[8]
  • Dispute 'Stropdas', part of E.S.R. Thêta.
• Dum spiro spero is inscribed:
  • on the wall of Edzell Castle, and spelled out by the shrubs in the castle's walled garden
  • above the door of Nymans House, West Sussex, England, old home of the Messel family now a National Trust property and gardens.
  • on medallions marking the Barbary Coast Trail in San Francisco, California[9]
  • on a window of Beverly Unitarian Church
  • on the sign of the Divers' Arms pub in Herne Bay.
• A song called "Dum spiro spero" is the theme for the video game Clive Barker's Undying.[10]
• Dum spiro spero is the motto of Oliver Lodge Primary School in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.

• Japanese Avant-Garde Metal band Dir en grey named their eighth full length album Dum Spiro Spero. [11]
• In the TV series Spooks, S8E5, Lucas North has a tattoo Dum Spiro Spero across his shoulders.

Family and individual use

Dum spiro spero is used as a motto by armigerous families including the Corbet baronets of Moreton Corbet (both creations), the Hoare baronets of Annabella, Co. Cork, and the Viscounts Dillon.[12] The Williamson Clan from Co Donegal, Ireland; and the Scottish Clan MacLennan. Individuals who used the motto include Charles I,[13] King of England; Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak,[14] and the merchant seaman and privateer, later Royal Governor of the Bahama Islands, Woodes Rogers.[15]

See also

• List of Latin phrases

References

1. "dum spiro, spero". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
2. Idylls 4, Line 42: ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες.
3. Letters to Atticus Book 9, Letter 10, Section 3: dum anima est, spes esse dicitur
4. SCIWAY "South Carolina State Seal and South Carolina State Mottos". South Carolina Information Highway. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
5. Nigel Barley (20 June 2013). White Rajah: A Biography of Sir James Brooke. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 101–. ISBN 978-0-349-13985-2.
6. Lukas Straumann (21 October 2014). Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia. Schwabe AG. pp. 63–. ISBN 978-3-905252-69-9.
7. "Cothill House (@CothillHouse) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
8. 601skss
9. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Survival-tips-for-life-on-the-Barbary-Coast-6690198.php#photo-7381306
10. "Clive Barker's Undying OST". Last FM.
11. https://www.metacritic.com/music/dum-spiro-spero/dir-en-grey
12. The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Bernard Burke, Harrison & Sons, 1884, pp. 228, 286, 494
13. Flood, Alison (2018-07-05). "Charles I's 'message for the future' discovered in poetry book". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
14. The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Bernard Burke, Harrison & Sons, 1884, p. 129
15. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down

External links

• Quotations related to Theocritus at Wikiquote
• Quotations related to Cicero at Wikiquote
• The dictionary definition of hope springs eternal at Wiktionary