List of Latin phrases (O)

This page is one of a series listing English translations of notable Latin phrases, such as veni, vidi, vici and et cetera. Some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases, as ancient Greek rhetoric and literature started centuries before the beginning of Latin literature in ancient Rome.

This list covers the letter O. See List of Latin phrases for the main list.

O

Latin	Translation	Notes
o homines ad servitutem paratos||men fit to be slaves!||attributed (in Tacitus, Annales, III, 65) to the Roman Emperor Tiberius, in disgust at the servile attitude of Roman senators; said of those who should be leaders but instead slavishly follow the lead of others
o tempora, o mores||Oh, the times! Oh, the morals!||also translated "What times! What customs!"; from Cicero, Catilina I, 1, 2
obiit (ob.)||one died||"He/she died", inscription on gravestones; ob. also sometimes stands for obiter (in passing or incidentally)
obit anus, abit onus||The old woman dies, the burden is lifted||Arthur Schopenhauer
obliti privatorum, publica curate||Forget private affairs, take care of public ones||Roman political saying which reminds that common good should be given priority over private matters for any person having a responsibility in the State
obiter dictum||a thing said in passing||in law, an observation by a judge on some point of law not directly relevant to the case before him, and thus neither requiring his decision nor serving as a precedent, but nevertheless of persuasive authority. In general, any comment, remark or observation made in passing
obscuris vera involvens	the truth being enveloped by obscure things	from Virgil
obscurum per obscurius||the obscure by means of the more obscure||An explanation that is less clear than what it tries to explain; synonymous with ignotum per ignotius
oculus dexter (O.D.)||right eye||Ophthalmologist shorthand
oculus sinister (O.S.)||left eye
oderint dum metuant||let them hate, so long as they fear||favorite saying of Caligula, attributed originally to Lucius Accius, Roman tragic poet (170 BC); Motto of the Russian Noble Family Krasnitsky
odi et amo||I hate and I love||opening of Catullus 85; the entire poem reads, "odi et amo quare id faciam fortasse requiris / nescio sed fieri sentio et excrucior" (I hate and I love. Why do I do this, you perhaps ask. / I do not know, but I feel it happening and am tormented)
odi profanum vulgus et arceo||I hate the unholy rabble and keep them away||from Horace
odium theologicum	theological hatred	name for the special hatred generated in theological disputes
oleum camino||(pour) oil on the fire||from Erasmus' (1466–1536) collection of annotated Adagia
omnes vulnerant, postuma necat or omnes feriunt, ultima necat||all [the hours] wound, last one kills||usual in clocks, reminding the reader of death
omne ignotum pro magnifico||every unknown thing [is taken] for great||or "everything unknown appears magnificent"
omnia cum deo||all with God||motto for Mount Lilydale Mercy College, Lilydale, Victoria, Australia
omnia dicta fortiora si dicta Latina||everything said [is] stronger if said in Latin||or "everything sounds more impressive when said in Latin"; a more common phrase with the same meaning is quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur (whatever said in Latin, seems profound)
omnia mutantur, nihil interit||everything changes, nothing perishes||Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD), Metamorphoses, book XV, line 165
omnia omnibus||all things to all men||1 Corinthians 9:22
omnia vincit amor||love conquers all||Virgil (70 BC – 19 BC), Eclogue X, line 69
omne vivum ex ovo	every living thing is from an egg	foundational concept of modern biology, opposing the theory of spontaneous generation
omnia munda mundis	everything [is] pure to the pure [men]	from The New Testament
omnia praesumuntur legitime facta donec probetur in contrarium||all things are presumed to be lawfully done, until it is shown [to be] in the reverse||in other words, "innocent until proven guilty"
omnibus idem||the same to all||motto of Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, usually accompanied by a sun, which shines for (almost) everyone
omnibus locis fit caedes||Let there be slaughter everywhere||Julius Caesar's The Gallic War, 7.67
omnis traductor traditor||every translator is a traitor||every translation is a corruption of the original; the reader should take heed of unavoidable imperfections
omnis vir tigris||everyone a tiger||motto of the 102nd Intelligence Wing
omnium gatherum||gathering of all||miscellaneous collection or assortment; often used facetiously
onus probandi||burden of proof||
onus procedendi||burden of procedure||burden of a party to adduce evidence that a case is an exception to the rule
opera omnia||all works||collected works of an author
opera posthuma||posthumous works||works published after the author's death
operari sequitur esse||act of doing something follows the act of being||scholastic phrase, used to explain that there is no possible act if there is not being: being is absolutely necessary for any other act
opere citato (op. cit.)	in the work that was cited	used in academic works when referring again to the last source mentioned or used
opere et viritate||in action and truth||doing what you believe is morally right through everyday actions
opere laudato (op. laud.)|| ||See opere citato
operibus anteire||leading the way with deeds||to speak with actions instead of words
ophidia in herba||a snake in the grass||any hidden danger or unknown risk
opus anglicanum||English work||fine embroidery, especially used to describe church vestments
Opus Dei	The Work of God	Catholic organisation
ora et labora||pray and work|| Completely this principle of the benedictian monasteries reads: „Ora et labora (et put), Deus adest sine mora. “ There „pray and work (and reads), God is (or: God helps) without delay. “
ora pro nobis||pray for us||
oratio directa||direct speech	expressions from Latin grammar
oratio obliqua||indirect speech
orbis non sufficit||the world does not suffice or the world is not enough||from Satires of Juvenal (Book IV/10), referring to Alexander the Great; James Bond's adopted family motto in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service; it made a brief appearance in the film adaptation of the same name and was later used as the title of the nineteenth James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough.
orbis unum||one world||seen in The Legend of Zorro
ordo ab chao||out of chaos, comes order||one of the oldest mottos of Craft Freemasonry.
orta recens quam pura nites||newly risen, how brightly you shine||Motto of New South Wales.