February 11th, 2023 Latin of the Day - "Senatus Populusque Romanus (S.P.Q.R.)"
"Senatus Populusque Romanus (S.P.Q.R.)"
"The Roman Senate and People," often rendered as "The Senate and People of Rome" - on of the first great bits of logo branding in history, the Roman Republic used S.P.Q.R. to indicate that official acts were done by the Senate ("council of elders," etymologically) and the People (in whom power resided, according to Republican ideals). This logo continued in use long after the fall of the Republic and rise of the Empire, in which power was actually far more vested in the emperor and the military than the senate or the people. It is interesting that the enclitic "-que," which added onto a word in Latin is like using the conjunction "and" before a word in English, gets its own letter in the S.P.Q.R. (not just S.P.R. as one might expect), perhaps indicating that early Romans really did think of it as a separate word in its own right, even though it is attached to other words like an English suffix.
a.d. III Idus Februarias anno A.U.C. MMDCCLXXVI
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