Plus ultra (motto)

Non plus ultra (also nec plus ultra, Latin for " Deprecated ", " Not beyond" ) is the Latin translation of the proverb, the passed down by tradition Herakles anbrachte to the Pillars of Hercules to the end of the world at the output of to highlight the Mediterranean between Gibraltar and North Africa.

Today the term is used in the German colloquial language, but also in advertising, to denote something unsurpassable.

Origin

An early indication of this saying can be found in the Greek poet Pindar in one of his odes, in which he sings about the winners of the Olympic, Isthmian, Pythian and Nemean games. There he describes the difficulties that arise when trying to navigate the vast ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The vacancy is in verse 21 of the third Nemean Ode.

Another explanation is the return on the Book of Job, chapter 38, verse 11 EU, where God speaks to the ocean in order to show him his limits. Here is the version of the Latin Bible, the Vulgate:

( standard German translation: " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further Here to lie thy proud waves.. " )

It is not explained why the Latin Bible text non ... Amplius and not non plus ultra says.

At the beginning of the modern era, when it became clear that the Pillars of Hercules precisely not mean the end of the habitable world, this was negated with the form " Plus Ultra". This was the personal motto of Emperor Charles V and pressed the claim of universal dominion.

• Latin phrase