Cacoēthes[3] "bad habit", or medically, "malignant disease" is a borrowing of Greek kakoēthes.[4] The phrase is derived from a line in the Satires of Juvenal: Tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes, or "the incurable desire (or itch) for writing affects many". See hypergraphia.
An optical device used in drawing, and an ancestor of modern photography. The source of the word camera.
Cane Nero magna bella Persica
Tell, oh Nero, of the great wars of Persia
Perfectly correct Latin sentence usually reported as funny from modern Italians because the same exact words, in today's dialect of Rome, mean "A black dog eats a beautiful peach", which has a ridiculously different meaning.
Capability of achieving goals by force of many instead of a single individual.
caput inter nubila (condit)
(she plunges) [her] head in the clouds
So aggrandized as to be beyond practical (earthly) reach or understanding (from Virgil's Aeneid and the shorter form appears in John Locke's Two Treatises of Government)
Originally an alchemical reference to the dead head or worthless residue left over from a reaction. Also used to refer to a freeloader or worthless element.
Caritas Christi
The love of Christ
It implies a command to love as Christ loved. Motto of St. Francis Xavier High School located in West Meadowlark Park, Edmonton.
Caritas Christi urget nos
The love of Christ impels us or The love of Christ drives us
An exhortation to live for today. From Horace, Odes I, 11.8. Carpere refers to plucking of flowers or fruit. The phrase collige virgo rosas has a similar sense.
carpe noctem
seize the night
An exhortation to make good use of the night, often used when carpe diem, q.v., would seem absurd, e.g., when observing a deep-sky object or conducting a Messier marathon or engaging in social activities after sunset.
The Roman senator Cato the Elder ended every speech after the Second Punic War with ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam, literally "For the rest, I am of the opinion that Carthage is to be destroyed."
especially used by Doctors of Medicine, when they want to warn each other (e.g.: "cave nephrolithiases" in order to warn about side effects of an uricosuric). Spoken aloud in some British public (paid) schools by pupils to warn each other of impending authority.
The purchaser is responsible for checking whether the goods suit his need. Phrases modeled on this one replace emptor with lector, subscriptor, venditor, utilitor: "reader", "signer", "seller", "user".
It is a counter to caveat emptor and suggests that sellers can also be deceived in a market transaction. This forces the seller to take responsibility for the product and discourages sellers from selling products of unreasonable quality.
Or simply "faster than cooking asparagus". A variant of the Roman phrase velocius quam asparagi coquantur, using a different adverb and an alternative mood and spelling of coquere.
cepi corpus
I have taken the body
In law, it is a return made by the sheriff, upon a capias, or other process to the like purpose; signifying, that he has taken the body of the party. See also habeas corpus.
certiorari
to be made certain
From certiorari volumus, "we wish to be made certain." A prerogative writ, by which a superior court orders an inferior one to turn over its record for review. Now used, depending on the jurisdiction, for an order granting leave to appeal a decision (e.g. to the Supreme Court of the United States) or judicial review of a lower court's order.
certum est quod certum reddi potest
it is certain, whatever can be rendered certain
Or "... if it can be rendered certain." Often used in law when something is not known, but can be ascertained (e.g. the purchase price on a sale which is to be determined by a third-party valuer)
cessante ratione legis cessat ipsa lex
when the reason for the law ceases, the law itself ceases
A rule of law becomes ineffective when the reason for its application has ceased to exist or does not correspond to the reality anymore. By Gratian.
A writ whereby the king of England could command the justice of an eyre (a medieval form of circuit court) to permit an attorney to represent a person who is employed in the king's service and therefore cannot come in person.
clarere audere gaudere
[be] bright, daring, joyful
Motto of the Geal family.
clausum fregit
he broke the enclosure
A legal action for trespass to land; so called because the writ demands the person summoned to answer wherefore he broke the close(quare clausum fregit), i.e., why he entered the plaintiff's land.
The means of discovering hidden or mysterious meanings in texts, particularly applied in theology and alchemy.
clerico admittendo
for being made a clerk
In law, a writ directed to the bishop, for the admitting a clerk to a benefice upon a ne admittas, tried, and found for the party who procures the writ.
clerico capto per statutum mercatorum
In law, a writ for the delivery of a clerk out of prison, who is imprisoned upon the breach of statute merchant.
clerico convicto commisso gaolae in defectu ordinarii deliberando
In law, a writ for the delivery of a clerk to his ordinary, that was formerly convicted of felony; by reason that his ordinary did not challenge him according to the privilege of clerks.
clerico intra sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in officium
In law, a writ directed to the bailiffs, etc., that have thrust a bailiwick or beadleship upon one in holy orders; charging them to release him.
A medical euphemism for the doggy-style sexual position.
collige virgo rosas
pick, girl, the roses
Exhortation to enjoy fully the youth, similar to Carpe diem, from "De rosis nascentibus" (also titled "Idyllium de rosis"), attributed to Ausonius or Virgil.[12]
It is frequently abbreviated comb. nov.. It is used in the life sciences literature when a new name is introduced, e.g. Klebsiella granulomatis comb. nov..
One year with another; on an average. "Common" here does not mean "ordinary", but "common to every situation"
communibus locis
in common places
A term frequently used among philosophical and other writers, implying some medium, or mean relation between several places; one place with another; on a medium. "Common" here does not mean "ordinary", but "common to every situation"
communis opinio
common opinion
prevailing doctrine, generally accepted view (in an academic field), scientific consensus; originally communis opinio doctorum, "common opinion of the doctors"
compos mentis
in control of the mind
Describes someone of sound mind. Sometimes used ironically. Also a legal principle, non compos mentis (not in control of one's faculties), used to describe an insane person.
A required, indispensable condition. Commonly mistakenly rendered with conditio ("seasoning" or "preserving") in place of condicio ("arrangement" or "condition").
Where there are no specific laws, the matter should be decided by custom;[14] established customs have the force of laws.[15] Also consuetudo est altera lex (custom is another law) and consuetudo vincit communem legem (custom overrules the common law); see also: Consuetudinary.
Despising the secular world. The monk or philosopher's rejection of a mundane life and worldly values.
contra bonos mores
against good morals
Offensive to the conscience and to a sense of justice.
contra legem
against law
Especially in civil law jurisdictions, said of an understanding of a statute that directly contradicts its wording and thus is valid neither by interpretation nor by analogy.
In contract law, the doctrine of contractual interpretation which provides that an ambiguous term will be construed against the party that imposed its inclusion in the contract – or, more accurately, against the interests of the party who imposed it.
contra spem spero
I hope against hope
Title of a poem by Lesya Ukrainka; it derives from an expression found in Paul's Letter to the Romans 4:18 (Greek: παρ' ἐλπίδα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, Latin: contra spem in spe[m]) with reference to Abraham the Patriarch who maintained faith in becoming the father of many nations despite being childless and well-advanced in years.
No herb (or sage) grows in the gardens against the power of death
there is no medicine against death; from various medieval medicinal texts
contradictio in terminis
contradiction in terms
Something that would embody a contradiction with the very definition of one of its terms; for example, payment for a gift, or a circle with corners. The fallacy of proposing such a thing.
there can be no debate with those who deny the foundations
Debate is fruitless when you don't agree on common rules, facts, presuppositions.
cor ad cor loquitur
heart speaks to heart
From Augustine's Confessions, referring to a prescribed method of prayer: having a "heart to heart" with God. Commonly used in reference to a later quote by Cardinal John Henry Newman. A motto of Newman Clubs.
cor aut mors
Heart or Death
(Your choice is between) The Heart (Moral Values, Duty, Loyalty) or Death (to no longer matter, no longer to be respected as person of integrity.)
cor meum tibi offero domine prompte et sincere
my heart I offer to you Lord promptly and sincerely
A popular school motto and often used as a name for religious and other organisations such as the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
coram
in the presence of
Used before a list of the names of the judges on a panel hearing a particular case.
coram Deo
in the presence of God
A phrase from Christian theology which summarizes the idea of Christians living in the presence of, under the authority of, and to the honor and glory of God; see also coram Deo.
coram episcopo
in the presence of the bishop
Refers to the celebration of Mass in the Roman Catholic Church where the bishop is present but does not preside over the service.[16]
Two kinds of writs of error, calling for the decision to be reviewed by the same court that made it. Coram nobis is short for quae coram nobis resident (let them, i.e. the matters on the court record, remain before us), and was the form historically used for the Court of King's Bench; the "us" means the King, who was theoretically the head of that court. Coram vobis is the analogous version ("let the matters remain before you") for the Court of Common Pleas, where the King did not sit, even notionally.
The fact that a crime has been committed, a necessary factor in convicting someone of having committed that crime; if there was no crime, there can not have been a criminal.
cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit, cras amet
May he who has never loved before, love tomorrow; And may he who has loved, love tomorrow as well
The refrain from the 'Pervigilium Veneris', a poem which describes a three-day holiday in the cult of Venus, located somewhere in Sicily, involving the whole town in religious festivities joined with a deep sense of nature and Venus as the "procreatrix", the life-giving force behind the natural world.
A concept about creation, often used in a theological or philosophical context. Also known as the 'First Cause' argument in philosophy of religion. Contrasted with creatio ex materia.
A very common misquote of Tertullian's et mortuus est Dei Filius prorsus credibile quia ineptum est (and the Son of God is dead: in short, it is credible because it is unfitting), meaning that it is so absurd to say that God's son has died that it would have to be a matter of belief, rather than reason. The misquoted phrase, however, is commonly used to mock the dogmatic beliefs of the religious (see fideism). This phrase is commonly shortened to credo quia absurdum, and is also sometimes rendered credo quia impossibile est (I believe it because it is impossible) or, as Darwin used it in his autobiography, credo quia incredibile.
credo ut intelligam
I believe so that I may understand
A motto of St Anselm, used as the motto of St. Anselm Hall, Manchester
Motto of the University of Chicago; often rendered in English as an iambic tetrameter, "Let knowledge grow from more to more, and so be human life enriched".
From Lucretius' De rerum natura book VI, where it refers in context to the motion of a thunderbolt across the sky, which acquires power and momentum as it goes. This metaphor was adapted as the state motto of New Mexico (adopted in 1887 as the territory's motto, and kept in 1912 when New Mexico received statehood) and is seen on the seal. Also the motto of Rocky Mount, Virginia and Omega Delta Phi.
cruci dum spiro fido
while I live, I trust in the cross, Whilst I trust in the Cross I have life
"Who benefits?" An adage in criminal investigation which suggests that considering who would benefit from an unwelcome event is likely to reveal who is responsible for that event (cf. cui prodest). Also the motto of the Crime Syndicate of America, a fictional supervillain group. The opposite is cui malo (Bad for whom?).
cui prodest
for whom it advances
Short for cui prodest scelus is fecit (for whom the crime advances, he has done it) in Seneca's Medea. Thus, the murderer is often the one who gains by the murder (cf. cui bono).
Whose the land is, all the way to the sky and to the underworld is his.
First coined by Accursius of Bologna in the 13th century. A Roman legal principle of property law that is no longer observed in most situations today. Less literally, "For whosoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to the sky and down to the depths."
The privilege of a ruler to choose the religion of his subjects. A regional prince's ability to choose his people's religion was established at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.
Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault
Copyright notice used in 16th-century England, used for comic effect in The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare[18] where Lucentio is urged by his servant Biondello to "seize your privilege to declare her [Bianca] yours alone".
From the Bible, locution indicating a will to death ("I want to die").
cur Deus Homo
Why the God-Man
The question attributed to Anselm in his work of by this name, wherein he reflects on why the Christ of Christianity must be both fully Divine and fully Human. Often translated "why did God become Man?"
^"Epistula XI". Epistularum Q. Horatii Flacci Liber Primus. The Society for Ancient Languages. Archived from the original on 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
