Anyone know Latin? I used to know some, but now I can’t translate at all.
Looking for a translation of this phrase, and the dictionaries aren’t helping me make sense of it:
“Nil vindico - defero!”
Well, my rusty Latin isn’t what it used to be, and it was poor then. The best I can come up with is “Don’t sell it - let it be.” Does that make any sense?
Something like:
I claim nothing - I renounce!
ni(hi)l is nothing, the other words can have several meanings along the lines above. Does that fit in the context somehow?
I assume (or claim) nothing, I defer (to authority).
Or, “hey, don’t look at me.”
Pax.
Is there a context for this phrase? It sounds vaguely Pilate-like, depending on how you take it.
Context wise, all I’ve been told is that it’s the sig line on a company’s email. I don’t even know what work the company is in. I’m inquiring of the person who inquired of me, but this is a third or fourth hand inquiry! 
Julie
I think that the message this phrase is intended to convey is:
“I never ask for anything. I just take it.”
*nil * - (variant of nihil) nothing
*vindico * - to assert a claim to, demand formally
*defero * - to bring away, carry off, take down, remove
From the definitions you give, I don’t see how you come up with your English translation. Vindico -ere does not have a sense to ask for something.
“Take it” implies receiving action, but all the definitions of defero imply passing off action away from oneself.
My Latin dictionary gives a definition of defero as used in a figure of speech meaning to hand off or to defer to authority.
The best reading of the phrase seems to me to mean to pass the buck.
Pax.