The phrase
Novus Ordo Seclorum (
Latin for "New Order of the Ages") appears on the reverse of the
Great Seal of the United States, first designed in 1782 and printed on the back of the
American dollar bill since 1935. The phrase also appears on the coat of arms of the
Yale School of Management,
Yale University's business school. The phrase is often mistranslated as "
New World Order," but the Latin for that phrase would be
Novus Ordo Mundi.
. . .
The phrase is taken from the fourth
Eclogue of
Virgil, which contains a passage (lines
5-8) that reads:
Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas; magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna, iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. "The last time of prophecy has come to the
Cumaean Sibyl; a brand new great order of the ages is born; for now the Virgin and the
age of Saturn have returned; now a new Child has been sent from the heavens." The forms
saecla,
saeclorum etc. were normal alternatives to the more common
saecula etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The form
saeculorum is impossible in
hexameter verse: the
ae and
o are long, the
u short by position. For the
medieval exchange between
ae,
æ and
e, see
Æ;
medieval is another example.
Medieval
Christians read Virgil's poem as a
prophecy of the coming of Christ.
. . .
Thus the motto Novus Ordo Seclorum can be translated as "A new order of the ages." It was proposed by
Charles Thomson, the Latin expert who was involved in the design of the Great Seal of the United States, to signify "the beginning of the new American Era" as of the date of the Declaration of Independence.
