In the first phrase, Motto is a nominative singular noun literally meaning exactly what it looks like, "motto". The next part of the phrase, "Autem Diem" is more complicated, because Autem means however, but Diem is an accusative singular noun meaning day. I don't think the phrase means "Motto however day." but, I do think it might mean "Motto of the day" because that makes more sense.
The next phrase "Acta non Verba" is much more simpler. Acta and Verba are both plural nominatives. It doesn't look like it, and at first you might think they are ablative, but they are neuter words in the second declension, so they decline with the plural ending being "a". It translates all together saying "Motto of the day: Actions, not Words"
I think this Latin phrase is important to the episode because at the end, Evil Morty explains that he isn't going to be doing more speeches, and that "Now, is the time for action" (Evil Morty). This Latin phrase on the classroom board is very important because now Evil Morty is going to be doing actions to destroy the citadel.
- Will Baschab
this was very informative and helpful
ReplyDelete"Motto autem diem" is pure nonsense. "Autem" is a resumptive particle, meaning not only "however," but "now," "and," "so," etc. Its meaning is informed by context, whence the issue here: there is no contenxt. My best guess is that (1) a writer took "autem diem" from a longer sentence of correct Latin without understanding the resulting meaning, (2) he or she used something like Google Translate, which renders Latin to English and English to Latin incorrectly in almost all cases, or (3) he or she arbitrarily mashed together Latin words without knowing or caring what it means.
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