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Why do many American universities choose to use Latin for their mottos?

Two reasons. First, those who have studied Latin will understand how concise and beautiful Latin is. Latin vocabulary expresses deep meanings concisely, so this is a very applicable language. Regarding the language of the school motto, because the school motto needs to be concise, powerful, and unforgettable. Harvard University's motto "Veritas" is well known to everyone. It is a resounding "truth" without losing elegance and self-cultivation; the Latin is concise and concise: to give a literary example, the motto of Dartmouth University is "Vox clamantis in deserto" , meaning "The voice of one crying in the wilderness", four Latin words cover 8 English meanings, also from the motto of the University of Chicago "Crescat scientia; vita excolatur", meaning "Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched" it can be seen that Latin summarizes the English meaning well; and Latin grammar makes many words end with "-tas", "-ta", "-tia", "- ra" at the end, using Latin to make the school motto read smoothly and pleasantly.

The second reason is ignorance of the American national background. A large part of the university's Latin mottos involve religion, such as Brown University's motto, "In deo speramus", "In God we hope", Duke University's "Eruditio et Religio", "Erudition and Religion", etc. related to religion. As we all know, the United States is a country with a strong Christian atmosphere. Many schools have religious backgrounds and strong theology majors when they were first established. The relationship between Latin and religion goes without saying, so there is nothing wrong with using Latin as the school motto.

Of course these are not the main ones. The most important thing is that the influence of Latin on Western culture can be said to be indelibly imprinted in the bones and blood. The glorious and solemn ancient Roman culture, which inherited the splendid history of ancient Greece, is what many scholars are fascinated by; and Latin, as the mother of the Romance languages, has derived many thriving languages ??on the European continent. It can be said that Europeans are descendants of ancient Roman culture, and immigrants from Europe to the New World (especially immigrants from New England) remember this bond particularly deeply. Acquiring Latin did symbolize the "elite" and "higher class" in the United States in the old days, but it was more than just a label - Americans' strong affection for Latin has always been very concerning.