# What is SPQR? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455 "2003-01-23T15:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![soria](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@soria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soria)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/1 "2003-01-23T15:45:02Z")
Can anybody help me? What does SPQR mean? I see it in roman movies, pictures, and other images. Is this a latin abbreviation for something? ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/2 "2003-01-23T15:46:02Z")
Senatus Populus Que Romanus…the Senate and the people of Rome ---
**Author:** ![Bravic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Bravic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bravic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/3 "2003-01-23T15:50:46Z")
I seem to remember it as Senatus Populusque Romae ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/4 "2003-01-23T15:57:20Z")
Google search got: “_Senatvs Popvivsque Romanvs_” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/5 "2003-01-23T16:18:22Z")
In Latin, _que_ is a suffix that can be tacked onto a word meaning “and.” Specifically, it means that the word to which it is suffixed is the added word. When placing abbreviations on monuments, the **Q** was included to indicate that an “and” had been in the original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/6 "2003-01-23T16:45:15Z")
OK, I think you’ve got some pretty good translations posted above to help answer your post. But how is this expression used today? Basically, it’s used to suggest “the people and our elected officials,” or more generally, “everyone who matters” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/7 "2003-01-23T17:18:42Z")
To attempt to provide a little more context, IANALatin Scholar, but S.P.Q.R. was a “motto” of the Roman Republic, and was seen around the city and maybe even on standards going into battle (?). It was representative of the fact that Rome was a republic not a monarchy, something the Republic was as proud of back then as we Americans are today of being a democracy. They basically used the phrase to blow their own horns in a bit a national pride. As for its use today, **Pablito** may be right, but I don’t recall seeing it used to represent “everyone who matters” in a more generic fashion, the way that Ancient Roman words like “patricians” and “plebians” are used with regularity today to generically describe blue bloods and commoners… ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/8 "2003-01-23T17:56:43Z")
Not to be confused with the business motto SPQR = “Small Profits, Quick Returns”… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/9 "2003-01-23T18:25:20Z")
It closely resembles “the Crown in Parliament” in British use and “the people of the United States in Congress assembled” in early American text – the people conceived of as the basis of sovereignty and their chosen political institutions, the first acting through the other, as the basis for the validity of political decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/10 "2003-01-23T18:40:50Z")
And it is definitely Senatus Populusque Romanus. Accept no other spellings. In modern Rome, all the sewer grates and various other public works still stay SPQR on them. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-spqr/150455/11 "2003-01-23T21:29:28Z")
Police cars, too, IIRC, tho’ it’s been a few years since I was there. –Cliffy