Today’s Latin phrase of the day is a fragment from a manuscript in the British Public Records Office (PRO E32/30, m. 14) found in Peter Coss’s 1994 article, “Knights, Esquires and the Origins of Social Gradation in England” from Transactions of the Royal Historical Society sixth series, Vol. 5, published in 1995 by the Royal Historical Society.
qui tunc fuit armiger eius et modo est miles
Let’s break this down.
qui – pronoun; who, that, which, what
tunc – adverb; then, thereupon, at that time
fuit (sum, esse, fui, futurus) – verb; to be, exist (this is the verb to be and gives students of Latin fits until they figure it out)
armiger – noun; armor bearer, squire
eius (also appears as ejus in some texts – is, ea, id)- they, them (this is he/she/it)
et – and, and even, also
modo – adverb; just now, recently, lately, presently, only, merely
est (sum, esse, fui, futurus) – verb; the verb to be again, this time in the third person singular form.
miles – noun; knight
My translation? “who at that time had been squires and presently are knights.”
Whew! I’m rusty at this…
