Dum spiro spero, which translates to "While I breathe, I hope",[1] is a Latin phrase of indeterminate origin. It is the motto of various places and organisations, including the U.S. state of South Carolina.
The sense of dum spiro spero can be found in the work of Greek poet Theocritus (3rd Century BC), who wrote: "While there's life there's hope, and only the dead have none."[2] That sentiment seems to have become common by the time of Roman statesman Cicero (106 – 43 BC), who wrote to Atticus: "As in the case of a sick man one says, 'While there is life there is hope' [dum anima est, spes esse], so, as long as Pompey was in Italy, I did not cease to hope."[3]
Matthew Henry (1662–1714), commenting on Ecclesiastes 9:3–4, directly related and applied the term to biblical King Solomon's ecclesiastical understanding of life as it relates to a supernatural afterlife. Henry use suggests that there is eternal hope of heaven while people are living, but this hope is lost once their breath is gone if they choose to live unrighteously ("While there is life there is hope. Dum spiro, spero – while I breathe, I hope.").[4] Henry's application also implies that the phrase's general idea predates Greek thought as it was first recorded in the 10th century BC in Masoretic texts.[citation needed]
The phrase is present in modern day in a representation of the seal of South Carolina printed in March 1785.[5] At some point, it also became the motto of the town of St Andrews,[6]Scotland, and is visible on heraldry around the town from the mid-19th century onwards.[7][8]
dispuut STROPDASArchived 2021-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, part of Eindhovensche Studenten Roeivereniging Thêta (Student Rowing Club in Eindhoven, Netherlands)
Quotations related to Theocritus at Wikiquote
The dictionary definition of hope springs eternal at Wiktionary
