List of Latin phrases

This page lists English translations of several Latin phrases and abbreviations, such as "i.e." and "et cetera". Some of these are themselves translations of Greek phrases.

M

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;Magna cum laude

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:"With great honor."

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;Magno cum gaudio

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:"With great joy."

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;Magna Europa est Patria Nostra

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:"Greater Europe is our Fatherland" — Political motto of pan-Europeanists

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;Magna est vis consuetudinis

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:"Great is the power of habit"

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;Magnum opus

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:"Great work" — said (sometimes ironically) of someone's masterpiece.

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;Mala fide

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:"In bad faith" — said of an act done with knowledge of its illegality, or with intention to defraud or mislead someone.

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;Malum discordiae

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:" evil of discord"

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;Malum quo communius eo pejus

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:"The more common an evil is, the worse it is."

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;Malum in se

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:"Wrong in itself" — a crime that is inherently wrong; cf. malum prohibitum.

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;Malum prohibitum

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:"Prohibited wrong" — something that society decided to forbid, but is not inherently evil.

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;Manu militari;

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:"With (or By) a military hand" — using armed forces in order to achieve a goal.

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;Manu propria (m.p.)

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:"With (one's) own hand"

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;Me vexat pede

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:"My foot itches" (literally, "he / it annoys me at the foot"). Maybe in the sense of "this person makes me want to kick him".

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;Mea (maxima) culpa

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:"It is my (greatest) fault" — used in Christian prayers and confession.

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;Meliora

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:"Better", carrying the connotation of "always better" - motto of University of Rochester

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;Melita, domi adsum.

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:"Honey, I'm home." (from the joke phrasebook, Latin for All Occasions; grammatically correct, but the phrase would be anachronistic in ancient Rome)

Related Topics:
Latin for All Occasions - Anachronistic

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;Memento mori

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:"Remember that you will die!"

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;Mens et Manus

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:"Mind and Hand" - motto of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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;Mens sana in corpore sano

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:"A healthy mind in a healthy body", or "A healthy mind requires a healthy body".

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;Mens rea

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:"Guilty mind." A term used in discussing the mindset of an accused criminal.

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;Minatur innocentibus qui parcit nocentibus

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:"He threatens the innocent who spares the guilty."

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;Mirabile dictu

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:"Wonderful to tell."

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;Miserere nobis

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:"Have mercy upon us" - a phrase within the Gloria and the Agnus Dei, to be used at certain points in Christian religious ceremonies.

Related Topics:
Gloria - Agnus Dei - Christian

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;Modus operandi (M. O.)

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:"Method of operation" — usually used to describe a criminal's methods.

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;Modus ponens

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:"Method of adding" — loosely "method of affirming", a logical rule of inference, saying that from proposition P and if P then Q one can conclude Q.

Related Topics:
Logical - Rule of inference

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;Modus tollens

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:"Method of subtracting" — loosely "method of denying", a logical rule of inference, saying that from propositions not Q and if P then Q one can conclude not P.

Related Topics:
Logical - Rule of inference

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;Modus morons

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:Not actually Latin, but a wordplay on the above two, referring to the oft-made logical fallacy that from if P then Q and not P, one would conclude not Q.

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;Modus vivendi

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:"Way of living" — i.e., an accommodation between disagreeing parties to allow life to go on.

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;Montis Insignia Calpe

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:"Badge of the Rock of Gibraltar"

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;Morituri te salutant

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:"They who are about to die salute you!"

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;Multum in parvo

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:"Much in little" — e.g., "Latin phrases are often multum in parvo, because they convey much in few words."

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;Mutatis mutandis

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:"With those things changed which needed to be changed" — i.e., "with the appropriate changes".

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