Protegimus. Persistimus.

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Elucidator
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Protegimus. Persistimus.

Post by Elucidator »

I am trying to develop a motto for a vigilante group in a story that I am writing. Translated to English, it should be "We protect. We persevere."

Would "Protegimus. Persistimus." be correct? or perhaps "Nos protegimus. Nos persistimus."

It is important to convey the idea that the vigilantes protect the innocent, and they persist/persevere with their pursuit of the abusers or murderers until retribution has been exacted. For literary reasons, I would like both English and Latin versions to start with the letter "p".

Unfortunately, I have not taken any instruction in Latin, so I am relying on the expertise of others to help me with this.

Elucidator
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Re: Protegimus. Persistimus.

Post by Elucidator »

I ended up going with two versions, one for a crest and one for stationery:

Protegimus. Persistimus.

Nos protegimus persistimusque.

Are there any grammatical issues, etc., with the above?

The concept of the motto is that the vigilante group protects victims, and perseveres for as long as it takes to exact retribution.

Craig_Thomas
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Re: Protegimus. Persistimus.

Post by Craig_Thomas »

I'm not sure that protego can be used without an object. It's a bit like writing in English "we cover" -- cover what? the reader is left asking. But then for all I know such things may be allowed in mottoes for the sake of brevity. Personally, I would read nos protegimus as 'we protect ourselves'.

I suppose the word persistimus must exist -- it certainly looks plausible --, but it is not in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, so it might be best to go with perstamus or maybe perseveramus.

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