Looking for use of this in a motto, like below a family coat of arms. No matter what, we will pay our debts to those we owe.
Thanks!
Latin Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, teachers, and students wanting to discuss the finer points of the Latin language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityLooking for use of this in a motto, like below a family coat of arms. No matter what, we will pay our debts to those we owe.
Thanks!
This is a good question, and there are a million possible answers to it, but I will list fewer than that here, and others will also, I hope, add a few more possibilities.
"Debita solventur omnia" is a straightforward sentence which means simply that all debts will be paid. The word order can be re-arranged to whatever you like with no change in meaning and only slight change in emphasis.
You can replace "solventur" above with "persolventur" to mean paid in full, a more emphatic expression.
You could change the indicative "solventur" (will be paid) to a jussive "solvantur" (let them be paid!). Again, you can put the prefix "per-" in front of "solvantur" to emphasize this.
If you want something even more legal sounding, official, and old fashioned, you can replace "solvantur" with "solvuntor".
I could go on, but I've probably said more than enough!
Matthew 18:28 has a pithy way of expressing this:
Redde quod debes.
Literally: "Give back what you owe."
This comes with a major caveat, however: it's in the context of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, and is uttered by the petty servant. The full story can be found in Matthew 18:23-35, and the portrait isn't very flattering:
. . . Egressus autem servus ille invenit unum de conservis suis, qui debebat ei centum denarios: et tenens suffocavit eum, dicens: Redde quod debes. Et procidens conservus ejus, rogabat eum, dicens: Patientiam habe in me, et omnia reddam tibi. Ille autem noluit: sed abiit, et misit eum in carcerem donec redderet debitum. . . .