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.

U

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;Ubi re vera ... or ubi revera ...

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:"Where(as), in reality ..."

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;Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant

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:"Where they make a wasteland, they call it peace" — Tacitus, Agricola, ch. 30.

Related Topics:
Tacitus - Agricola

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;ult.

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:abbreviation for ultimo. Formerly used in formal correspondence to refer to the previous month. Compare with inst. and prox.

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;Ultima ratio

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:"Last argument" — the last resort. Louis XIV, King of France, had Ultima Ratio Regum ("The last resort of kings") engraved on the cannons of his armies.

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;Ultra vires

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:"Without authority"

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;Unus multorum

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:"One of many" — an average person.

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;Urbi et Orbi

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:"To the city (of Rome) and to the globe" — standard opening of Roman proclamations; also a traditional blessing by the Pope.

Related Topics:
Rome - Pope

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;Ut biberent, quando (or quoniam) esse nollent

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:"So that they might drink, since they refused to eat" — from a story by Suetonius (Vit. Tib. 2.2) and Cicero (De Natura Deorum, 2.3). The phrase was said by Roman admiral Publius Claudius Pulcher, right before the battle of Drepana, as he threw overboard the sacred chickens which had refused to eat the grain offered them — an unwelcome omen of bad luck. So the sense is "if they do not perform as expected, they must suffer the consequences".

Related Topics:
Suetonius - Cicero - Publius Claudius Pulcher - Battle of Drepana

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;Ut infra

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:"As below."

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;Ut retro

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:"As backwards" or "as on the back side" — i.e., "as above" or "as on the previous page".

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;Ut supra

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:"As above."

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