# Help with Latin phrase? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163 "2004-03-02T21:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/1 "2004-03-02T21:06:36Z")
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!” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/2 "2004-03-02T21:15:28Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/3 "2004-03-02T21:26:47Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/4 "2004-03-02T21:50:26Z")
I assume (or claim) nothing, I defer (to authority). Or, “hey, don’t look at me.” Pax. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/5 "2004-03-02T22:09:37Z")
Is there a context for this phrase? It sounds vaguely Pilate-like, depending on how you take it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/6 "2004-03-02T22:54:57Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/7 "2004-03-03T00:19:19Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-latin-phrase/232163/8 "2004-03-03T03:21:37Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > 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.