Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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sejintenej
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by sejintenej »

Apalacia wrote:I saw that at the beginning of this thread that someone had said that every house had a Latin motto. Can anyone conjure up what Leigh Hunt's was? (Was in Hunt B, and rather interested now!)
DBTS wrote: ....... each Block has a house motto over the door, and all, except Peele have it in Latin - eg. Middleton's is Festinae Lente i.e. "make haste slowly". Peele's is quite extraordinary - "Passing Away". Is that because it almost falls off the end of the Avenue, or what?

I guess from the original post to which you refer that the motto is engraved above the centre door of each block. Given that only button grecians were allowed to use the "Grecians' Path" erks wouldn't normally see the inscriptions. In the case of Coleridge the photos only show the word Coleridge above the door so where any motto might be is for someone there to search. Cue Mrs C? I certainly never heard of a house / block motto
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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I'm sure that every block's motto was in Latin, and carved immediately above the sundial over the central door to the block, only used by matrons and masters (so perhaps meant to apply to them??). I'm also pretty sure that Festina Lente was the Prep's motto (not Middleton's), so subsequently Leigh Hunt's. As they were set in stone, they must be still there, so we only need someone to go and look. They were all pretty lugubrious. Thornton's was "Finem Respice" (which I'd forgotten, but have just checked by reference to a photo). Unfortunately the house photos in this forum are not quite high enough resolution to read the mottos, but they can certainly be seen to be there.

I believe that Honor the King was spelt thus on the cloister arch for some reason that no one knew.

Seaman revived the Votum, which had become dormant, in about 1957. The Latin teachers had to construe it with us, which embarrassed them, as it is excruciatingly bad Latin, and one line contains a schoolboy howler (ipsum instead of se) to maintain the rhythm.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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michael scuffil wrote: Seaman revived the Votum, which had become dormant, in about 1957. The Latin teachers had to construe it with us, which embarrassed them, as it is excruciatingly bad Latin, and one line contains a schoolboy howler (ipsum instead of se) to maintain the rhythm.
The Votum was sung until 1953, in Flecker's time, so perhaps Seaman stopped it for a time.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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sejintenej wrote:
Apalacia wrote:I saw that at the beginning of this thread that someone had said that every house had a Latin motto. Can anyone conjure up what Leigh Hunt's was? (Was in Hunt B, and rather interested now!)
DBTS wrote: ....... each Block has a house motto over the door, and all, except Peele have it in Latin - eg. Middleton's is Festinae Lente i.e. "make haste slowly". Peele's is quite extraordinary - "Passing Away". Is that because it almost falls off the end of the Avenue, or what?

I guess from the original post to which you refer that the motto is engraved above the centre door of each block. Given that only button grecians were allowed to use the "Grecians' Path" erks wouldn't normally see the inscriptions. In the case of Coleridge the photos only show the word Coleridge above the door so where any motto might be is for someone there to search. Cue Mrs C? I certainly never heard of a house / block motto
The motto is I think underneath the sundial that is above the main door of each block but I'd have to check...
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by kerrensimmonds »

And that, on a House by House basis at Horsham, is totally different from the entire school Latin song, known as the Votum (Horsham) aka the Carmen (Hertford)....where there was one extra verse.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by michael scuffil »

DavidRawlins wrote:
michael scuffil wrote: Seaman revived the Votum, which had become dormant, in about 1957. The Latin teachers had to construe it with us, which embarrassed them, as it is excruciatingly bad Latin, and one line contains a schoolboy howler (ipsum instead of se) to maintain the rhythm.
The Votum was sung until 1953, in Flecker's time, so perhaps Seaman stopped it for a time.
Ah... I don't think Seaman ever stopped it, maybe he deplored the general ignorance of it, but in any case it was revived with a flourish in 1957 or 58 (certainly while I had MacNutt for Latin). I think we were all issued with cyclostyled sheets and told to learn it, and at the same time the Latin staff were told to make sure we understood the words, so a school period was devoted to this. There was a great flurry...

The block mottos form the top edge of the sundials. They are difficult to read on photographs.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

Since I didn't "Do" Latin at CH (Being headed for a Military Carrer) I will quote Manuel as "I know nutting"

However if "ed ipsum adjeturum" doe not scan, I cannot see the difference with"ed se adjetrurum", which in my mental rehearsal of the tune -- fits just as well.
I remember, on one occasuion, hearing the tune whistled at me, from the touch line, during a Rugby match ------

It was an Old Blue, who had recognised me ! (Through the Blood and Mud ?)

It may be bad Latin -- But I confess to a lingering love of it !------------ so there !! :(
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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I used to have a booklet about CH which contained various facts. Included in this were all the house mottos. In my time no one knew, or worried about them.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by michael scuffil »

DavidRawlins wrote:I used to have a booklet about CH which contained various facts. Included in this were all the house mottos. In my time no one knew, or worried about them.

If this is the booklet I think you're referring to, it has an interesting story.

In the UF (3rd year) we had Gad Malins for English. He produced a booklet which he said had been produced by our predecessors about 20 years earlier (i.e. c. 1938). He thought it would be a good idea to update it, and devoted a fair proportion of our lessons to this project, which was very popular because it involved "field work". We wrote up quite a lot, but by the end of the school year, it wasn't finished. At the beginning of the next school year, when we were on the GE, our English master was David Jesson Dibley. He'd heard of the project from Gad, but in the very first lesson he explained to us, with some regret, that there was not much point in continuing it, because it would soon be very out of date. He then went on to give us our first intimation that senior and junior houses would "soon" be coming. (It took another six years, in fact.)

I too thought of this booklet in connexion with house mottos, because it was the only place I'd ever seen them listed (with translations), along with other curious information, such as the resonance of the echo in the Sharpenhurst reservoir, and how a boy had been killed by a one-off flash of lightning on Big Side.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by jhopgood »

michael scuffil wrote:
DavidRawlins wrote:I used to have a booklet about CH which contained various facts. Included in this were all the house mottos. In my time no one knew, or worried about them.
I too thought of this booklet in connexion with house mottos, because it was the only place I'd ever seen them listed (with translations), along with other curious information, such as the resonance of the echo in the Sharpenhurst reservoir, and how a boy had been killed by a one-off flash of lightning on Big Side.
I have the booklet, not to hand at the moment, but believe it was produced at the end of the '40's with a certain Magee involved.

Clifford Jones booklet on CH postcards, has postcards of all the Horsham Houses, and has included a reference to the mottoes and their translations.
It was on sale at the last OBD.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by Angela Woodford »

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote: I will quote Manuel as "I know nutting"
"I know ner-theeng!"
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

Malins was my English Master (I know ner-theeng, about thr "Gad")
But I found him an excellent Teacher, who introduced me to "Interesting" Shakespear, and Acting

I believe, he had something to do with the Indian Army --- in a previous existence ?
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by sejintenej »

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Malins was my English Master (I know ner-theeng, about thr "Gad")
But I found him an excellent Teacher, who introduced me to "Interesting" Shakespear, and Acting

I believe, he had something to do with the Indian Army --- in a previous existence ?
There was a short-term junior housemaster in Col A (whose name I forget) with an "interesting" background. He had a habit of calling any less then brightest pupils "oolu"s which he claimed is an Urdu debasement epithet he picked up somewhere out "there". He also did time in either Seville or Cordoba or nearby university so he had a good working knowledge of Spanish which he would teach "on the side" occasionally.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

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My first encounter with Malins was at the entrance exam in London. After the written exam, there was an interview with him (based on one's English test), with Bill Armistead (who asked a trick question), with the headmaster (in my case headmasters: Flecker, who was about to leave, and Seaman, who was about to start), and a medical. (All this in my case organized by a very busy-busy youthful Mr Salisbury, who later became Clerk.)

I had been encouraged by my primary school teacher (who had actually specialized in maths) to use lots of adjectives. This always got me good marks from him. Malins said to me: "Good essay, but far too many adjectives. Start concentrating on verbs."

Armistead's trick question was this:
Imagine a fly walking round a square. It walks four inches. What's the area of the square? (Hopefully, one got that right.) He went on: Now it walks round another square. It walks an inch. What's the area of this square? If you got that right (as I did), he said: I don't think we need bother any more with you.

All I remember about the Flecker interview was that he said he didn't like aeroplanes (Ghastly noisy things!). I'd said I wanted to be an aircraft designer.
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Re: Does anyone know the school latin motto?

Post by DavidRawlins »

jhopgood wrote:
michael scuffil wrote:
DavidRawlins wrote: Clifford Jones booklet on CH postcards, has postcards of all the Horsham Houses, and has included a reference to the mottoes and their translations.
It was on sale at the last OBD.
From Clifford Jones'
Peele Passing away.
Thornton Finem respice. Look to the end
Middleton Umbra docet. The shadow teaches
Coleridge Pereunt et imputantur. They perish and are reckoned up
Lamb Tempus abit, manet eternitus. Time is going, eternity is waiting
Barnes Umbra fugit, manet res. The shadow flies, the situation remains
Maine Dum, spectus fugit. While you watch,time flies
Prep Festina lente. Hurry slowly (more haste, less speed)

A very cheerful lot. Were there some at Hertford?
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