Callum
Faber est quisque fortunae suae or Faber est quisque suae fortunae?? I've been wondering what the correct way to say the old phrase 'Everyone is the architect of their own fortune'. I've read a couple of sites speaking for each side which has confused me and i'm looking for someone to set me straight! Thanks in advance
Jan 31, 2015 1:25 PM
Answers · 2
Word order in Latin is free (it has got cases and endings, so it's easier to swap words around), so both variants are correct Latin. I don't know if any is more "traditional".
February 1, 2015
Good question - I've found a couple of other variants as well and it seems the words are jumbled in almost any order. It'd be nice to find the speech in original Latin, or at least the earliest example of the quote, to clear up the confusion. "Faber est suae quisque fortunae" seems to be a widely-accepted version, and a school in Sydney has taken it (ie. in this order) as their motto.
January 31, 2015
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