Salvete amici,
A company that specialises in software to use GPS signals for accurately locating objects on the Earth has as its motto:
UBI SUMUS RE VERA
Could this be translated as “Where we are - by the true method”? (i.e. using re vera as an ablative of means?) or perhaps “Where we truly are”? (is “re vera” ever used to mean truly?) or is there a more fitting translation/interpretation?
Suggestions welcomed.
Yes, it means “Where we really/truly are”. Res is a word that really cannot be described, you just must see how it is used. Res vera is “the true thing”, and thus “the truth”. Ablative pretty much turns that into an adverb, and choose the words at your best discretion. And maybe it’s just me, but it seems a little odd to use the phrase with the verb esse.
re vera means more ‘in fact’. There are many possibilities for that little sentence.