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Let there be light

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"Fiat Lux" redirects here. For other uses, see Fiat Lux (disambiguation).
This article is about the Biblical phrase. For the verse from the Bible, see Genesis 1:3. For other uses, see Let There Be Light.
The phrase "Let there be light" used metaphorically over the door of Central Library, a Carnegie library in Edinburgh

"Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew יְהִי אוֹר (yehi 'or). Other translations of the same phrase include the Latin phrase fiat lux, and the Greek phrase γενηθήτω φῶς (genēthētō phōs).

Genesis 1

The phrase comes from the third verse of the Book of Genesis. In the King James Bible, it reads, in context:

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4And God saw the light, and it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Origin and etymology

The Latin phrase fiat lux, from the Latin Vulgate Bible, is typically translated as "let there be light" when relating to Genesis 1:3 (Hebrew: "יְהִי אוֹר"). The full phrase is "dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux" ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"), from the Greek "καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς" (kai eipen ho Theos genēthētō phōs kai egeneto phōs), from the Hebrew "וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי אוֹר" (vayo'mer 'Elohim, yehi 'or vayehi 'or).

Since fiat lux would be literally translated as "let light be made" (fiat is from fieri, the passive form of the verb facere, "to make" or "to do"), an alternative Latinization of the original Greek and Hebrew, lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist") has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy.[1] The Douay–Rheims Bible translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light was made."

Use by educational institutions

The motto "Fiat lux" on the Sather Gate at the University of California, Berkeley
The emblem of Cornway College with the motto "Let there be light".

Fiat lux is the motto of and also appears on the seals of the following educational institutions:

Fiat Lux also appears on the outside of Kerns Religious Life Center at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. The second half of the same verse, Et facta est lux appears on the seal of Morehouse College.

In October 1973, a Portland, Oregon business owner delivers a message to Governor Tom McCall in response to his executive order curtailing commercial lighting during the 1970s energy crisis.

In literature

For works which use the phrase as their title, see Let there be light (disambiguation)#In literature and Fiat lux (disambiguation)
  • The English phrase concludes Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question", symbolizing the godlike growth in power of an extremely advanced computer as it creates a new universe from the ashes of a dead one, drawing comparisons and suggesting an explanation for the biblical Book of Genesis.
  • Hugo, Victor, Les Misérables (in French) {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) speaks about the importance of daring and writes "That cry, 'Audace,' is a Fiat Lux!"
  • "Fiat Lux!" is the activating phrase in the setting of a Ward Major in Kurtz, Katherine, Chronicles of the Deryni.
  • The Fiat Lux Agency is the name of Nestor Burma's private detective agency, in Malet, Léo, New Mysteries of Paris (novels).
  • One of the three main divisions of Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz (book) is titled "Fiat Lux."
  • Pope, Alexander, Nature and nature's laws (couplet), Nature and nature's laws lay hid in Night. / God said, 'Let Newton be!' and all was light.
  • "Fiat Lux" is also used in Thelen, Albert Vigoleis (1982), Die Insel des Zweiten Gesichts (novel) (in German), DE{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).

References

  1. ^ "But What Does It Mean?". The Daily. The University of Washington. 1999-05-25. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  2. ^ Fiat Lux Academe (official), Facebook.
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