Favete linguis!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Favete linguis!” is a Latin phrase. Literally translated it means “Facilitate [the ritual acts] with your lingua”. Analogous it means: “Facilitate the ritual acts by being silent”. The phrase is used by Cicero, Ovid, Horace and Pliny the Elder.
[edit] Origin
When there were official ritual acts a herald always ordered the others to be silent by saying this phrase. This was done in order to avert an interruption by a careless, maybe also an ominous, word.
[edit] References
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, De divinatione (2, 83/1, 102)
- Horace, Carmina (2, 3, 2)
- Seneca, De vita beata (26, 7)
- Ovid, Fasti (2, 654)
- Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia (28, 11)
