Re: Fiat Lux

On Sun, 24 Jun 2001, Justin Mansfield wrote:

> Salvete Glottopoetae!
Salve!

>     I've been lurking here for a while, and the only thing that has been
> able to get me to break my silence is Latin ;) I hope this post isn't
> too disorganized or badly proofread, as you can only make one first
> impression.
It's not that, but you have an attachment consisting of the same text
as your message, probably because you're using broken software (any
and all Windows software is considered broken until it's been
house-trained by a knowledgeable user; it's usually no good as it
comes out of the box).

>     This is, of course, the origin of the expression "by fiat." To do
> something by fiat means you say it and thereby make it so, just as God
> saying "Fiat lux" resulted in "...et lux erat.
But the Vulgate doesn't have "et lux erat"; it has "et facta est
lux", i.e. "and the light was made" or "and the light came into
being".

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas