In God's honor

A

Anonymous

Guest

Hi,

I'm an artist, planning to make a picture of a knight(non-commercial project), he is supposed to have his Motto; "In God's honor", written in latin on his banner.

By "in God's honor" I mean as in; to do something to honor God, I.e; "I'm doing this in Gods honor."

I'd be much grateful for a quick response, and will share with you the result once finished.

Thank you,

Daniel
 

Iynx

Consularis

  • Consularis

Location:
T2R6WELS, Maine, USA
This is actually a little bit tricky. I think you want either

In Honorem Dei

or

Ad Honorem Dei

There is a subtle difference, I think, between the two. The first, narrowly, would signify something done because one honors God. The second would signify something done for the sake of the honor of God, or as one might say, to enhance the honor of God.

The latter might seem odd to a contemporary English speaker, but there certainly are models. Consider for example in the Jesuit's Ad Maioram Gloriam Dei ("For the Greater Glory of God"), or the Suscipiat in the old Mass: Suscipiat Dominus Sacrificium de manibus tuis ad laudem et gloriam Nominis Suis... ("May the Lord receive this Sacrifice from your hands, to the praise and glory of his Name...").

The deciding factor (for me) is that the construction with ad has a much more active, macho, knightly feel than that with in. I vote for

Ad Honorem Dei.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest

Great answer, thank you Iynx!

I do however feel inclined to choose "In honorem Dei", this is why:

As you stated, "Ad honorem Dei" has a macho ring to it, in my mind it sounds sort of like "I'll take it upon myself to decide what honors God", while "In honorem Dei" sounds like something monks would chant, I think "I'll do what is God's honor" as in; adhering to scriptual definitions of what that would be.

Does it make sense? Any opinions about it?

It's worth to mention that the motto is a play on the knights name; Timoteus, which is supposed to mean "God's honor". The idea is that this is a truly pietous individual, sort of a rare breed among nobles, nonetheless born a knight and obligated to military service. While I'm sure many pietous knights retired in favour of more peaceful activities, some might have had reasons to stay in duty, perhaps for the sake of bringing some much needed pity and compassion to a warscene, as his absence would likely be filled by yet another knightly robber and murderer anyway. And also to bring just rule to his personal demesne, which would have suffered under a likely less benevolent lordship.



And something else, the name Timoteus will appear on the knights shield, and I'm writing it out as "TIMOTEVS", I assume this would be the correct writing in classic form? I want to give an old feeling akin to that of the bayeux tapestry. And in a similar vein, would the correct way of typing the motto on the banner be:

IN·HONOREM·DEI

I noticed those dots on beforementioned tapestry. Any knowledge injected is most welcome as I want to get this as right as possible. ;)

Many thanks for your time,

Daniel
 
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