It is obviously in Latin and is a popular motto for quite a few educational institutions here in England. Latin can be regarded as one of the mother tongues of the western languages in common with Greek and
Sanskrit.
The English translation for "Pergo et Perago" is generally accepted as "I undertake and I achieve" but it is probably an over simplistic attempt. Each of these two words can have several slightly different meanings and the essence may get lost in translation. One educational institution has translated it as "Strive to Achieve".
For example, the different meanings for pergo include to continue, proceed, go on with, pursue, press on, make haste etc. Perago could mean accomplish, complete, carry through the end, finish, thrust through, pierce through and so on.
Initially, I prefer "I proceed and I accomplish" as the translation but somehow it does not in my mind convey the complete message. I think a better transcript would be "I proceed I strive and I accomplish".
This is a short bonus post for this week which will hopefully provoke some thought. And also I am off on my travels again to the land of my birth and probably would not submit another post for a number of weeks.
Update A cigarette card issued by Players around 1912 interprets the motto as I advance and accomplish. You can see it here.
an english translation of i proceed & succeed is no worse & has the virtue of maintaining the flavor of the original wordplay
ReplyDeleteThe official version is "I persevere and I achieve". Adopting it for my stamp approach, I have added my own slant to the interpretation. It is in Latin, make what you wish of it. Do you collect?
ReplyDeletehi friend i do like the official version as well as your own equally fine rendering tho as a published translator & former latin teacher i would not reiterate the english personal pronoun since the latin does not actually express the personal pronoun at all but only the fairly conventional heraldic verbal inflection for the first person singular & while i used to collect stamps many years ago nowadays i am only collecting dust & a list of palindromes on stamps which has chanced to lead me to examine the images in your excellent blog very closely for the fine print so great thanx & warm regards from aletheia
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. It is very heartening to know that there is some interest in this blog.
DeleteBest of wishes.
Do you know who were the two warriors depicted inthe coins?
ReplyDeleteNative warriors but officially no persons in particular.
DeleteDo you know who were the two warriors depicted inthe coins?
ReplyDeleteI found this emblem in a coin dated 1887.
ReplyDelete