Terminus Est - Other Meanings

Other Meanings

Terminus Est is commonly translated from the Latin as "This is the end", or literally "It is the end." It can also mean "this is the limit", "this is an end" (due to the lack of the definite article), or "this is the border". However, Severian interprets the phrase to mean "this is the line of division," and Typhon translates it as "this is the place of parting."

While it is not strictly in accordance with the grammar of the original Latin, it might perhaps be considered appropriate by some to rephrase the translation "This is the end" as "It is finished." This adjustment would provide a further nod to Christian symbolism, as in the section below.

Read more about this topic:  Terminus Est

Famous quotes containing the word meanings:

    An amoeba is a formless thing which takes many shapes. It moves by thrusting out an arm, and flowing into the arm. It multiplies by pulling itself in two, without permanently diminishing the original. So with words. A meaning may develop on the periphery of the body of meanings associated with a word, and shortly this tentacle-meaning has grown to such proportions that it dwarfs all other meanings.
    Charlton Laird (b. 1901)

    Man cannot bury his meanings so deep in his book, but time and like-minded men will find them. Plato had a secret doctrine, had he? What secret can he conceal from the eyes of Bacon? of Montaigne? of Kant? Therefore, Aristotle said of his works, “They are published and not published.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)