l

Latin

Here are some common Latin words and phrases, together with their translations.

ab initio	from the beginning
ad hoc	for this object or purpose (implied and “this one only”); therefore, without a system, spontaneously
ad hominem	to the man; used of an argument addressed to the presumed character or personal failings of the person on the other side
ad infinitum	to infinity, that is, endlessly
ad lib., ad libitum	at pleasure. Used adverbially to mean generously to the point of profligacy; as a verb, to invent or extemporise
ad nauseam	to a sickening extent
ad valorem	according to value (as opposed to volume)
a fortiori	with stronger reason
annus mirabilis	wonderful year, used to describe a year in which more than one memorable thing has happened; for instance 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London and the English defeats of the Dutch
a priori	from cause to effect, that is, deductively or from a pre-existing principle
bona fide	in good faith
carpe diem	literally pluck the day, but seize the day is more common; enjoy the moment; make the most of life
casus belli	the cause of (more often, pretext for) war
cave!	“Watch out!” (imperative); once used at boys’ private schools in Britain
caveat emptor	let the buyer beware
ceteris paribus	other things being equal
cf	short for confer, meaning compare (imperative)
circa	around or about: used for dates and large quantities; can be abbreviated to c or c.
de facto	in point of fact, in effect
de jure	from the law; by right
de minimis	abbreviation of de minimis non curat lex, meaning the law is not concerned with trivial matters; too
	small to be taken seriously
de profundis	out of the depths
deus ex machina	God from a machine; first used of a Greek theatrical convention, where a god would swing on to the stage, high up in a machine, solving problems humans could not untangle and thus resolving the action of a play. Now used to describe a person or thing appearing from nowhere to put matters right
eg, exempli gratia	for example
et al., et alii	and others, used as an abbreviation in bibliographies when citing multiple editorship or authorship to save the writer the bother of writing out all the names. Thus, A. Bloggs et al., The Occurrence of Endangered Species in the Genus Orthodoptera
ex ante	before the event
ex cathedra	from the chair of office, authoritatively
ex gratia	as a favour, not under any compulsion
ex officio	by virtue of one’s office, not unofficially
ex parte	from or for one side only
ex post facto, ex post	after the fact, retrospectively
ex tempore	off the cuff, without preparation (extempore)
habeas corpus	you must have the body; a writ to bring a person before a court, in most cases to ensure that the person’s imprisonment is not illegal
horror vacui	literally, “fear of empty space”; the compulsion to make marks in every space. Horror vacui is indicated by a crowded design
ibid., ibidem	in the same place; used in footnotes in academic works to mean that the quote comes from the same source
idem	the same, as mentioned before; like ibidem
ie, id est	that is, explains the material immediately in front of it
in absentia	in the absence of, used as “absent”
in camera	in a (private) room, that is, not in public
in flagrante delicto	in the act of committing a crime; caught red-handed; an expression that has developed a sexual connotation
in loco	in the place of; eg, in loco parentis, in the place of a parent
in re	in the matter of
in situ	in (its) original place
inter alia/inter alios	among other things or people
intra vires	within the permitted powers (contrast with ultra vires)
ipso facto	by that very fact, in the fact itself
lingua franca	a common tongue
loc. cit., loco citato	in the place cited; used in footnotes to mean that the precise source of the reference or quote has already been given
mea culpa	my fault (commonly used as a noun while retaining the mea; eg, this mea culpa somewhat mollified them)
memento mori	remember you have to die; a reminder of death, such as a skull
mirabile dictu	literally, wonderful to relate
mutatis mutandis	having changed those things that needed changing; used when making comparisons between two different but usefully comparable cases
nem. con., nemine contradicente	no one against; unanimously
non sequitur	it does not follow; an inference or conclusion that does not follow from its premises
op. cit., opere citato	in the work quoted; similar but not identical to loc. cit. (see above)
pace	with due respect to
pari passu	on the same terms, at an equal pace or rate of progress
passim	adverb, here and there or scattered. Used in indexes to indicate that the item is scattered throughout the work and there are too many instances to enumerate them all
per se	by itself, for its own sake
persona non grata	person not in favour/barred
per stirpes	among families; a lawyer’s term used when distributing an inheritance
petitio elenchis	the sin of assuming a conclusion
post eventum	after the event
post hoc, ergo propter hoc	after this, therefore because of this. Used fallaciously in argument to show that because one thing comes after another it can be inferred that the first thing caused the second thing
post mortem	after death, used as an adjective and also as a noun, a clinical examination of a dead body
prima facie	from a first impression, apparently at first sight, on the face of it - no connection with love
primus inter pares	first among equals
pro rata	for the rate; divided in proportion
pro tem., pro tempore	for the moment
PS, post scriptum	written afterwards
quid pro quo	something for something (or one thing for another), something in return, an equivalent
q.v., quod vide	which see; means that the reader should look for the word just mentioned (eg, in glossary)
re	with regard to, in the matter of
sic	thus; used in square brackets in quotes to show writer has made a mistake. “Mrs Thacher [sic] resigned today.”
sine die	without (setting) a date
sine qua non	without which, not. Anything indispensable, and without which another cannot exist
status quo ante	the same state as before; usually shortened to status quo. A common usage is “maintaining the status quo”
stet	let it stand or do not delete; cancels an alteration in proofreading; dots are placed under what is to remain
sub judice	under judgment or consideration; not yet decided
sub rosa	under the rose, privately or furtively; not the same as under the gooseberry bush
ultra vires	beyond (one’s) legal power
vade mecum	a little book or object carried about on the person; literally “Go with me”
vae victis	Woe to the conquered!
versus, v or v.	against; used in legal cases and games
viz, videlicet	that is to say; to wit; namely

Laws

Scientific, economic, facetious and fatalistic laws in common use are listed here.

Benford’s law In lists of numbers from many sources of data the leading digit 1 occurs much more often than the others (about 30% of the time). The law was discovered by Simon Newcomb, an American astronomer, in 1881. He noted that the first pages of books of logarithms were much more thumbed than others. Furthermore, the higher the digit, the less likely it is to occur. This applies to mathematical constants as much as utility bills, addresses, share prices, birth and death statistics, the height of mountains, and so on.

Boyle’s law The pressure of a gas varies inversely with its volume at constant temperature.

Brooks’s law “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later,” said Fred Brooks, in his book The Mythical Man-Month.

Engel’s law In general people spend a smaller share of their budget on food as their income increases.

Goodhart’s law “Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes” was the law stated by Charles Goodhart, a chief adviser to the Bank of England during the 1980s. It has been recast more succinctly as “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Gresham’s law When money of a high intrinsic value is in circulation with money of lesser value, it is the inferior currency which tends to remain in circulation, while the other is either hoarded or exported. In other words: “Bad money drives out good.”

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle Energy and time or position and momentum cannot both be accurately measured simultaneously. The product of their uncertainties is h (Planck’s constant).

Hooke’s law The stress imposed on a solid is directly proportional to the strain produced within the elastic limit.

Laws of thermodynamics

1 The change in the internal energy of a system equals the sum of the heat added to the system and the work done on it.

2 Heat cannot be transferred from a colder to a hotter body within a system without net changes occurring in other bodies in the system.

3 It is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of steps.

Mendel’s principles The law of segregation is that every somatic cell of an individual carries a pair of hereditary units for each character; the pairs separate during meiosis so that each gamete carries one unit only of each pair.

The law of independent assortment is that the separation of units of each pair is not influenced by that of any other pair.

Moore’s law “The number of transistors on a chip doubles every 18–24 months.” An observation by Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel, regarding the pace of semiconductor technology development in 1961.

Murphy’s law Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Also known as sod’s law.

Ohm’s law Electric current is directly proportional to electromotive force and inversely proportional to resistance.

Okun’s law The relationship between unemployment and GDP growth. GDP growth of 3% will leave the jobless rate unchanged. Faster growth will cut the unemployment rate by half the amount by which growth exceeds 3%. A growth rate of less than 3% will increase unemployment by the same ratio.

Pareto principle Also known as the 80/20 rule, named after Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923), an Italian economist, who determined that 80% of activity comes from 20% of the people. The principle was extended (or simply misunderstood) by Joseph Juran, an American management guru, who suggested that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. That is, in many instances a large number of results stem from a small number of causes, eg, 80% of problems come from 20% of the equipment or workforce.

Parkinson’s law “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Formulated by C. Northcote Parkinson and first published in The Economist, November 19th 1955.

Parkinson’s law of data Data expand to fill the space available for storage, so acquiring more memory will encourage the adoption of techniques that require more memory.

The Peter principle All members of a hierarchy rise to their own level of incompetence, according to Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull in their book of the same name published in 1969.

Reilly’s law This law of retail gravitation suggests that people are generally attracted to the largest shopping centre in the area. William Reilly, an American academic, proposed the law in a book published in 1931.

Say’s law of markets Aggregate supply creates its own aggregate demand. Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832), a French economist. If output increases in a free-market economy, the sales would give the producers of the goods the same amount of income which would re-enter the economy and create demand for those goods. Keynes’s law, attributed to John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), a British economist, says that the opposite is true and that “demand creates its own supply” as businesses produce more to satisfy demand up to the limit of full employment.

sod’s law See Murphy’s law.

Utz’s laws of computer programming Any given program, when running, is obsolete. If a program is useful, it will have to be changed. Any given program will expand to fill all available memory.

Wolfe’s law of journalism

You cannot hope

to bribe or twist,

thank God! the

British journalist.

But seeing what

the man will do

unbribed, there’s

no occasion to.