Thus, "blank slate". Romans used to write on wax-covered wooden tablets, which were erased by scraping with the flat end of the stylus. John Locke used the term to describe the human mind at birth, before it had acquired any knowledge.
talis qualis
just as such
"Such as it is" or "as such".
taliter qualiter
somewhat
talium Dei regnum
for of such (little children) is the kingdom of God
Te occidere possunt sed te edere non possunt nefas est
They can kill you, but they cannot eat you, it is against the law.
The motto of the fictional Enfield Tennis Academy in the David Foster Wallace novel Infinite Jest. Translated in the novel as "They can kill you, but the legalities of eating you are quite a bit dicier".
A reference to the Greek γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnothi seauton), inscribed on the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, according to the Greek periegetic writer Pausanias (10.24.1). Rendered also with nosce te ipsum, temet nosce ("thine own self know") appears in The Matrix translated as "know thyself".
16th century variant of two classical lines of Ovid: tempora labuntur ("time labors", Fasti) and omnia mutantur ("everything changes", Metamorphoses). See entry for details.
tempus edax rerum
time, devourer of all things
Also "time, that devours all things", literally: "time, gluttonous of things", edax: adjectival form of the verb edo to eat. From Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15, 234-236.
From Virgil's Georgics (Book III, line 284), where it appears as fugit inreparabile tempus. A common sundial motto. See also tempus volat, hora fugit below.
tempus rerum imperator
time, commander of all things
"Tempus Rerum Imperator" has been adopted by the Google Web Accelerator project. It is shown in the "About Google Web Accelerator" page. Also, motto of Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
In archaeology or history, refers to the date before which an artefact or feature must have been deposited. Used with terminus post quem (limit after which). Similarly, terminus ad quem (limit to which) may also refer to the latest possible date of a non-punctual event (period, era, etc.), while terminus a quo (limit from which) may refer to the earliest such date.
terra australis incognita
unknown southern land
First name used to refer to the Australian continent
That is, no man's land. A neutral or uninhabited area, or a land not under the sovereignty of any recognized political entity.
terras irradient
let them illuminate the lands
Or "let them give light to the world". An allusion to Isaiah 6.3: plena est omnis terra gloria eius ("the whole earth is full of his glory"). Sometimes mistranslated as "they will illuminate the lands" based on mistaking irradiare for a futureindicative third-conjugation verb, whereas it is actually a presentsubjunctive first-conjugation verb. Motto of Amherst College; the college's original mission was to educate young men to serve God.
1. Something that cannot be classified into either of two groups considered exhaustive; an intermediate thing or factor. 2. A third person or thing of indeterminate character.
Tibi cordi immaculato concredimus nos ac consecramus
We consecrate and entrust ourselves to your Immaculate heart (O Mary).
The inscription found on top of the central door of the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, otherwise known as the Manila Cathedral in the Philippines
Danaos being a term for the Greeks. In Virgil's Aeneid, II, 49, the phrase is said by Laocoön when warning his fellow Trojans against accepting the Trojan Horse. The full original quote is quidquid id est timeo Danaos et dona ferentis, quidquid id est meaning "whatever it is" and ferentis being an archaic form of ferentes. Commonly mistranslated "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts".
timidi mater non flet
A coward's mother does not weep
A proverb from Cornelius Nepos's Vita of Thrasybulus: praeceptum illud omnium in animis esse debet, nihil in bello oportere contemni, neque sine causa dici matrem timidi flere non solere (that old precept has to be held by all in our minds: nothing should be condemned in war, and it is for a reason that it is said the mother of a coward does not weep [for her cowardly son]).
Refrain originating in the response to the seventh lesson in the Office of the Dead. In the Middle Ages, this service was read each day by clerics. As a refrain, it appears also in other poems and can frequently be found inscribed on tombs.
Used to express the belief in the transfer of imperial authority from the Roman Empire of antiquity to the Medieval Holy Roman Empire.
tres faciunt collegium
three makes company
It takes three to have a valid group; three is the minimum number of members for an organization or a corporation.
treuga Dei
Truce of God
A decree by the medieval Church that all feuds should be cancelled during the Sabbath—effectively from Wednesday or Thursday night until Monday. See also Peace and Truce of God.
Thus, "what you are, I was; what I am, you will be.". A memento morigravestone inscription to remind the reader that death is unavoidable (cf. sum quod eris).
tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito
you should not give in to evils, but proceed ever more boldly against them
Found on the Great Seal on the flag of the state of Michigan.
tunica propior est pallio
A tunic is closer [to the body] than a cloak
From Plautus' Trinummus 1154. Equivalent to "blood is thicker than water" in modern English.
turba
lit. 'uproar', 'disturbance', 'crowd'; in music, specifically in the musical settings of the Passion of Jesus, it refers to any text that is spoken by any group of people, including the disciples, the Jews, or the soldiers.
