List of Latin phrases (C)

This page lists 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 Greek rhetoric and literature reached its peak centuries before the rise of ancient Rome.

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

C

Latin	Translation	Notes
cacoethes scribendi||insatiable desire to write||Cacoēthes “bad habit”, or medically, “malignant disease” is a borrowing of Greek kakóēthes. The phrase is derived from a line in the Satires of Juvenal: Tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes, or “the incurable desire (or itch) for writing affects many”. See hypergraphia.
cadavera vero innumera||truly countless bodies||Used by the Romans to describe the aftermath of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.||Kill them. For the Lord knows those who are his.||Supposed statement by Abbot Arnaud Amalric before the massacre of Béziers during the Albigensian Crusade, recorded 30 years later, according to Caesar of Heisterbach.
Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt||Those who hurry cross the sea change the sky [upon them], not their souls or state of mind||Hexameter by Horace (Epistulae I, 11 v.27). Seneca shortens it to Animum debes mutare, non caelum (You must change [your] disposition, not [your] sky) in his Letter to Lucilium XXVIII, 1
caetera desunt||the rest is missing||Caetera is Medieval Latin spelling for cētera.
calix meus inebrians||my cup making me drunk||
camera obscura	dark chamber	An optical device used in drawing, and an ancestor of modern photography. The source of the word camera.
canes pugnaces	war dogs or fighting dogs
canis canem edit||dog eats dog||Refers to a situation where nobody is safe from anybody, each man for himself.
capax infiniti||holding the infinite||a term referring (at least) to some Christian doctrines of the incarnation of the Son of God when it asserts that humanity is capable of housing full divinity within its finite frame. Related to the Docetic heresy and sometimes a counterpoint to the Reformed 'extracalvinisticum.'
caput inter nubila (condit)||(he plunges) [his] head in the clouds||So aggrandized as to be beyond practical (earthly) reach or understanding (from Virgil's Aeneid and the shorter form appears in John Locke's Two Treatises of Government)
caput mortuum	dead head	Originally an alchemical reference to the dead head or worthless residue left over from a reaction. Also used to refer to a freeloader or worthless element.
Caritas Christi||The love of Christ||It implies a command to love as Christ loved. Motto of St. Francis Xavier High School located in West Meadowlark Park, Edmonton.
Caritas in Veritate	Charity in Truth	Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical.
carpe diem	seize the day	An exhortation to live for today. From Horace, Odes I, 11.8. Carpere refers to plucking of flowers or fruit. The phrase collige virgo rosas has a similar sense.
carpe noctem||seize the night||An exhortation to make good use of the night, often used when carpe diem, q.v., would seem absurd, e.g., when observing a deep sky object or conducting a Messier marathon.
carpe vinum||seize the wine||
Carthago delenda est	Carthage must be destroyed	The Roman senator Cato the Elder ended every speech after second Punic Wars with ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam, literally "For the rest, I am of the opinion that Carthage is to be destroyed." Before the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan ended all his speeches in a similar way with Pactio Olisipiensis censenda est "The Lisbon Treaty must be put to a referendum".
casus belli	event of war	Refers to an incident that is the justification or case for war.
causa latet, vis est notissima||The cause is hidden, but the result is well known.||Ovid: Metamorphoses IV, 287; motto of Alpha Sigma Phi.
causa mortis||cause of death||
cave||beware!||especially used by Doctors of Medicine, when they want to warn each other (e.g.: "cave nephrolithiases" in order to warn about side effects of an uricosuric). Spoken aloud in some British public schools by pupils to warn each other of impending authority.
cave canem||Beware of the dog||
cave laborem	beware of work
cave nil vino	beware of no wine
caveat emptor	let the buyer beware	The purchaser is responsible for checking whether the goods suit his need. Phrases modeled on this one replace emptor with lector, subscriptor, venditor, utilitor: "reader", "signer", "seller", "user".
cedant arma togae||let arms yield to the gown||"Let military power yield to civilian power", Cicero, De Officiis I:77. See also Toga
celerius quam asparagi cocuntur||more swiftly than asparagus [stem]s are cooked||Or simply "faster than cooking asparagus". A variant of the Roman phrase velocius quam asparagi coquantur, using a different adverb and an alternative mood and spelling of coquere.
cepi corpus||I got the body||In law, it is a return made by the sheriff, upon a capias, or other process to the like purpose; signifying, that he has taken the body of the party. See also habeas corpus.
certum est quod certum reddi potest||it is certain, whatever can be rendered certain||Or "... if it can be rendered certain." Often used in law when something is not known, but can be ascertained (e.g. the purchase price on a sale which is to be determined by a third-party valuer)
cessante ratione legis cessat ipsa lex||when the reason for the law ceases, the law itself ceases||A rule of law becomes ineffective when the reason for its application has ceased to exist or does not correspond to the reality anymore. By Gratian.
cetera desunt||the rest are missing||Also spelled "caetera desunt".
ceteris paribus	all other things being equal	That is, disregarding or eliminating other factors in a situation.
charta pardonationis se defendendo||a paper of pardon to defend oneself||The form of a pardon for killing another man in self-defence (see manslaughter).
charta pardonationis utlagariae||a paper of pardon to the outlaw||The form of a pardon of a man who is outlawed. Also called perdonatio utlagariae.
Christianos ad leones||[Throw the] Christians to the lions!||
Christo et Doctrinae||For Christ and Learning||The motto of Furman University.
Christus nos liberavit	Christ has freed us	title of volume I, book 5, chapter XI of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
Christus Rex	Christ the King	A Christian title for Jesus.
circa (c.) or (ca.)	around	In the sense of "approximately" or "about". Usually used of a date.
circulus in probando||circle made in testing [a premise]||Circular reasoning. Similar term to circulus vitiosus.
circulus vitiosus||vicious circle||In logic, begging the question, a fallacy involving the presupposition of a proposition in one of the premises (see petitio principii). In science, a positive feedback loop. In economics, a counterpart to the virtuous circle.
citius altius fortius||faster, higher, stronger||Motto of the modern Olympics.
clamea admittenda in itinere per atturnatum|| ||A writ whereby the king of England could command the justice to admit one's claim by an attorney, who being employed in the king's service, cannot come in person.
clausum fregit|| ||A legal action for trespass to land; so called, because the writ demands the person summoned to answer wherefore he broke the close (quare clausum fregit), i.e., why he entered the plaintiff's land.
claves Sancti Petri||the keys of Saint Peter||A symbol of the Papacy.
clavis aurea||golden key||The means of discovering hidden or mysterious meanings in texts, particularly applied in theology and alchemy.
clerico admittendo||for being made a clerk||In law, a writ directed to the bishop, for the admitting a clerk to a benefice upon a ne admittas, tried, and found for the party who procures the writ.
clerico capto per statutum mercatorum|| ||In law, a writ for the delivery of a clerk out of prison, who is imprisoned upon the breach of statute merchant.
clerico convicto commisso gaolae in defectu ordinarii deliberando|| ||In law, a writ for the delivery of a clerk to his ordinary, that was formerly convicted of felony; by reason that his ordinary did not challenge him according to the privilege of clerks.
clerico intra sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in officium|| ||In law, a writ directed to the bailiffs, etc., that have thrust a bailiwick or beadleship upon one in holy orders; charging them to release him.
Codex Iuris Canonici||Book of Canon Law||The official code of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church (cf. Corpus Iuris Canonici).
cogito ergo sum	I think, therefore I am.	A rationalistic argument used by French philosopher René Descartes to attempt to prove his own existence.
coitus interruptus	interrupted congress	Aborting sexual intercourse prior to ejaculation—the only permitted form of birth control in some religions.
coitus more ferarum	congress in the way of beasts	A medical euphemism for the doggy-style sexual position.
collige virgo rosas||pick, girl, the roses|| Exhortation to enjoy fully the youth, similar to Carpe diem, from De rosis nascentibus (also titled Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may", 1909, by John William Waterhouse
combinatio nova	new combination	It is frequently abbreviated comb. nov.. It is used in the life sciences literature when a new name is introduced, e.g. Klebsiella granulomatis comb. nov..
communibus annis||in common years||One year with another; on an average. "Common" here does not mean "ordinary", but "common to every situation"
communibus locis||in common places||A term frequently used among philosophical and other writers, implying some medium, or mean relation between several places; one place with another; on a medium. "Common" here does not mean "ordinary", but "common to every situation"
communis opinio||view of the common (man)||
compos mentis||in control of the mind||Describes someone of sound mind. Sometimes used ironically. Also a legal principle, non compos mentis (not in control of one's faculties), used to describe an insane person.
concordia cum veritate||in harmony with truth||Motto of the University of Waterloo.
concordia salus||well-being through harmony||Motto of Montreal. It is also the Bank of Montreal coat of arms and motto.
condemnant quod non intellegunt||They condemn what they do not understand or They condemn because they do not understand ||The quod here is ambiguous): it may be the relative pronoun or a conjunction.
condicio sine qua non||condition without which not||A required, indispensable condition. Commonly mistakenly rendered with conditio ("seasoning" or "preserving") in place of condicio ("arrangement" or "condition").
confer (cf.)	confer	"compare". Used as an abbreviation in text to recommend a comparison with another thing (cf. citation signal).
Confoederatio Helvetica (C.H.)||Helvetian Confederation||The official name of Switzerland, hence the use of "CH" for its ISO country code, ".ch" for its Internet domain, and "CHF" for the ISO three-letter abbreviation of its currency, the Swiss franc.
coniunctis viribus||with connected strength||Or "with united powers". Sometimes rendered conjunctis viribus.
consuetudo pro lege servatur||Custom is held as law.||Where there are no specific laws, the matter should be decided by custom; established customs have the force of laws. Also consuetudo est altera lex (custom is another law) and consuetudo vincit communem legem (custom overrules the common law); see also: Consuetudinary.
consummatum est||It is completed.||The last words of Jesus on the cross in the Latin translation of John 19:30.
contemptus saeculi||scorn for the time||Despising the secular world. The monk or philosopher's rejection of a mundane life and worldly values.
contra bonos mores||against good morals||Offensive to the conscience and to a sense of justice.
contra legem||against the law||
contra spem spero||hope against hope||Title of a poem by Lesya Ukrainka; also used in the Pentateuch with reference to Abraham the Patriarch.
contradictio in terminis	contradiction in terms	A thing or idea that would embody a contradiction, for example, payment for a gift, or a circle with corners. The fallacy of proposing such a thing.
contra principia negantem non est disputandum	there can be no debate with those who deny the foundations	Debate is fruitless when you don't agree on common rules, facts, presuppositions.
contraria contrariis curantur||the opposite is cured with the opposite||First formulated by Hippocrates to suggest that the diseases are cured with contrary remedies. Antonym of similia similibus curantur (the diseases are recovered with similar remedies.)
cor ad cor loquitur||heart speaks to heart||From Augustine's Confessions, referring to a prescribed method of prayer: having a "heart to heart" with God. Commonly used in reference to a later quote by Cardinal John Henry Newman. A motto of Newman Clubs.
cor aut mors||Heart or Death||(Your choice is between) The Heart (Moral Values, Duty, Loyalty) or Death (to no longer matter, to no longer be respected as person of integrity.)
cor meum tibi offero domine prompte et sincere||my heart I offer to you Lord promptly and sincerely||motto of Calvin College
cor unum||one heart||A popular school motto. Often used as names for religious and other organisations such as the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
coram Deo||in the Presence of God||A phrase from Christian theology which summarizes the idea of Christians living in the Presence of, under the authority of, and to the honor and glory of God.
coram nobis, coram vobis	in our presence, in your presence	Two kinds of writs of error.
coram populo||in the presence of the people||Thus, openly.
coram publico||in view of the public||
Corpus Christi	Body of Christ	The name of a feast in the Roman Catholic Church commemorating the Eucharist. It is also the name of a city in Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, and a controversial play.
corpus delicti	body of the offence	The fact that a crime has been committed, a necessary factor in convicting someone of having committed that crime; if there was no crime, there can not have been a criminal.
Corpus Iuris Canonici||Body of Canon Law||The official compilation of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church (cf. Codex Iuris Canonici).
Corpus Iuris Civilis	Body of Civil Law	The body of Roman or civil law.
corpus vile||worthless body||A person or thing fit only to be the object of an experiment.
corrigenda||things to be corrected||
corruptio optimi pessima||the corruption of the best is the worst||
corruptissima re publica plurimae leges||When the republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous||Tacitus
corruptus in extremis||corrupt to the extreme||Motto of the fictional Springfield Mayor Office in The Simpsons TV-Show
cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit, cras amet||May he love tomorrow who has never loved before; And may he who has loved, love tomorrow as well||It's the refrain from the 'Pervigilium Veneris', a poem which describes a three day holiday in the cult of Venus, located somewhere in Sicily, involving the whole town in religious festivities joined with a deep sense of nature and Venus as the "procreatrix", the life-giving force behind the natural world.
Credo in Unum Deum||I Believe in One God||The first words of the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.
credo quia absurdum est||I believe it because it is absurd||A very common misquote of Tertullian's et mortuus est Dei Filius prorsus credibile quia ineptum est (and the Son of God is dead: in short, it is credible because it is unfitting), meaning that it is so absurd to say that God's son has died that it would have to be a matter of belief, rather than reason. The misquoted phrase, however, is commonly used to mock the dogmatic beliefs of the religious (see fideism). This phrase is commonly shortened to credo quia absurdum, and is also sometimes rendered credo quia impossibile est (I believe it because it is impossible) or, as Darwin used it in his autobiography, credo quia incredibile.
crescamus in Illo per omnia||May we grow in Him through all things||Motto of Cheverus High School.
crescat scientia vita excolatur||let knowledge grow, let life be enriched||Motto of the University of Chicago.
crescit eundo	it grows as it goes	State motto of New Mexico, adopted in 1887 as the territory's motto, and kept in 1912 when New Mexico received statehood. Originally from Lucretius' De rerum natura book VI, where it refers in context to the motion of a thunderbolt across the sky, which acquires power and momentum as it goes.
cruci dum spiro fido||while I live, I trust in the cross, Whilst I trust in the Cross I have life||Motto of the Sisters of Loreto (IBVM) and its associated schools.
cucullus non facit monachum||The hood does not make the monk||William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Scene I, Act V 48–50
cui bono	Good for whom?	"Who benefits?" An adage in criminal investigation which suggests that considering who would benefit from an unwelcome event is likely to reveal who is responsible for that event (cf. cui prodest). Also the motto of the Crime Syndicate of America, a fictional supervillain group. The opposite is cui malo (Bad for whom?).
cui prodest||for whom it advances||Short for cui prodest scelus is fecit (for whom the crime advances, he has done it) in Seneca's Medea. Thus, the murderer is often the one who gains by the murder (cf. cui bono).
cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos	Whose the land is, all the way to the sky and to the underworld is his.	First coined by Accursius of Bologna in the 13th century. A Roman legal principle of property law that is no longer observed in most situations today. Less literally, "For whosoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to the sky and down to the depths."
cuius regio, eius religio	whose region, his religion	The privilege of a ruler to choose the religion of his subjects. A regional prince's ability to choose his people's religion was established at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.||Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault||Cicero, Philippica [[s:la:In M. Antonium Oratio - Philippica XII#[5]|XII, 5]].
culpa||fault||Also "blame" or "guilt". In law, an act of neglect. In general, guilt, sin, or a fault. See also mea culpa.
cum gladiis et fustibus||with swords and clubs||From the Bible. Occurs in Matthew 26:47 and Luke 22:52.
cum gladio et sale||with sword and salt||Motto of a well-paid soldier. See salary.
cum grano salis||with a grain of salt||Not to be taken too seriously or as the literal truth.
cum hoc ergo propter hoc	with this, therefore on account of this	fallacy of assuming that correlation implies causation.
cum laude||with praise||The standard formula for academic Latin honors in the United States. Greater honors include magna cum laude and summa cum laude.
cum mortuis in lingua mortua	with the dead in a dead language	Movement from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky
cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae	let all come who by merit deserve the most reward	Motto of University College London.
cur Deus Homo||Why the God-Man||The question attributed to Anselm in his work of by this name, wherein he reflects on why the Christ of Christianity must be both fully Divine and fully Human. Often translated "why did God become Man?"
cura personalis||care for the whole person|| Motto of University of Scranton.
cura te ipsum	take care of your own self	An exhortation to physicians, or experts in general, to deal with their own problems before addressing those of others.
curriculum vitae	course of life	An overview of a person's life and qualifications, similar to a résumé.
custos morum||keeper of morals||A censor.
cygnis insignis||distinguished by its swans||Motto of Western Australia.
cygnus inter anates||swan among ducks||