An Osprey a bit of Latin and A Dakota
 

looking through photographs of Dakota G-AMSV whilst under Air Atlantique ownership I noticed that circa 1988/9 the Aircraft carried an inscription in Latin on a scroll under the companies Osprey logo on the rudder. As far as I can tell it was the only member of the fleet to carry the script and it was shortlived having disappeared by 1990.
Can any contributors rember what it said with hopefully a translation?
I've deciphered what I believe to be "Quod non fear potest co??????".

Any help greatly appreciated.

Can you scan it post it ?

The first part is "that there is no fear".....

Quod non fear potest = Because there is no fear it is possible...


I've found a few photo's of the Dak in question but can not ascertain the last word.


Edit: The last word is conficimus which is the first-person present active indicative of conficio (meaning I accomplish or I achieve or I complete).


So the inscripton translates as:


'Because there is no fear it is possible to achieve'.

I might be able to in Photoshop.

Thank you for the fast responses and translations.

Unfortunately, the scanned image just pixelates as I only have a basic device.

Many thanks. I've been pondering the answer for a week or so.

Nothing to do with fear.

Loosely translated it means "we achieve what cannot be done".

Some people spouting utter bullcrap here.

Fear in latin is 'timor'.

This quote has nothing to do with English 'fear' and as far as I can discover "fear' is not a word that exists in latin.

Blimey! Neither I nor old Festig, my long-suffering Latin teacher would ever have believed I would be correcting someone else's Latin! Oorrah!

Also don't forget that the latin of whoever wrote that slogan may well have been on the same skill level as that of many postng here - so best not to assume it actually means anything...

Nope. As I stated conficimus which is the first-person present active indicative of conficio =. Ergo (see what I did there?) it has NOTHING to do with 'We' which is a first person plural.

No, you're wrong, conficimus is the first person plural - conficere is a regular third conjugation verb.

You might want to check a Latin grammar book (sadly, I threw mine out 50 years ago after I got my O-level). :O

Quite so.

The word in question is actually "fieri" ("to happen"), in fact "quod non fieri potest" (literally "that which is not able to happen", meaning "the impossible") is still used nowadays in legal circles.

Likewise dear, long-suffering Mr Binns. :O

Yup. I read as "Quod non fieri potest conficimus" which indeed means "We accomplish what cannot be done." "Quod non fieri potest" seems to be a frequently used phrase, but Google doesn't find an example of the motto, so I guess someone with a good command of Latin used it to translate "We do the impossible" which someone had suggested would look nice on the aircraft.

"Fieri" is the present infinitive of fio, which is the passive of facio, to do or to make. "Conficimus" is the 1st person plural, present indicative, of conficio (3rd conjugation, a bit irregular, whilst fio is as irregular af.)

Unlike the more familiar slogan, they don't give a time scale for accomplishing the impossible.

Edit: whilst I was composing this post, and checking words in Lewis and Short (available in several amazingly affordable implementations for your phone) and Kennedy's grammar, DaveReid gave the explanations. He's right, except I wouldn't call "conficio" exactly regular, but the endings are straightforward enough. Should have said it's the 1 pl. present indicative active, to pin it down thoroughly.

I learn a lot of unexpected things on PPRuNe but refreshing my Latin grammar is most unexpected!
I don't remember much beyond declining "mensa" * , conjugating "amo", and stories about sailors, farmers and their daughters.

* I always wondered about the vocative case. I can't image anyone addressing a speech to a table, except perhaps Keats. :)

[Drift]I have the merest smattering of Latin but I noticed a small Latin inscription above the door of a 1900s house in South Croydon. After a mental struggle I decided it translated loosely as "small house large welcome". [/Drift]

The only little I recall is

semper in exretia, solum profundum variat

As well as Semper Ubi Sub Ubi.

- Ed ;)

The thread gets better...….

Though I think you might have come across "Per Ardua Ad Astra" once or twice. :O

Just a few times yes.

I am sitting in my lounge beneath a family crest which states "Res Non Verba"

OK, I can't resist the old question. Why is it hard to go to the cinema?