We’re scattering my father’s ashes in a few days. He always said farewell with “Onward and upward” then repeat it in Latin. I know it was something like ‘Exus oquiamus’. What is the proper phrase? It seems appropriate to say it when we scatter the ashes, but I can’t remember the words.
Thanks in advance. Please forgive me if I don’t respond to this thread right away, but I do not have regular internet access at the moment.
Excelsior?
“Ever Upward” is the translation given by the NY state motto people, but I have also seen it translated as “onward and upward.”
It might have been excelsior, which literally means “higher,” but often gets translated as “onward and upward.”
Porro et sursum literally means “Onward and upward.”
Neither of those sound phonetically like what you remember, though.
Unfortunately, “Excelsior” as a motto sounds like you are extolling the virtues of packing materials.
Ad astra, means “To the stars”
Exi seque occulemus. ("You go away and we’ll hide).
Okay, seriously, the phrase doesn’t seem familiar to me. I agree that the first element might be some form of excelsus such as excelse (“upward”) or excelsior (“very much upward”) or the whole thing might possibly be excelsissime (“upward to the highest degree”). The -mus ending makes me think it could be a related verb form like excellamus (“may we excel”), even though that doesn’t sound much like what you remember.
“Forward” would normally be porro or something similar, which doesn’t agree with your transcription.
sic itur ad astra: Thus do we reach the stars.
My Latin is almost non-existent, but could the second word be the first person plural of some verb? Maybe someone who actually knows Latin can take a guess…?
-amus is indeed a first person plural ending but the “oqui” part doesn’t mean anything to me, nor can I find anything similar in my dictionaries. Perhaps the word was agiamus (“let us go”) or exeamus (“let us go out”)?
Prorsus et sursum means “Forward and upward”. My source gives no direct translation for “onward”.
We had both of our parents cremated and interred in the family plot on the highest point in town, overlooking the harbor.
May your dad Requiescat in pace! (Rest in peace.)
I couldn’t find my Latin textbooks. My source :
“Exus” means “burn down” and my above source gave no translation for “oquiamus”,
means “onward and upward.”
The RAF, Royal Air Force motto is : “Per Ardua ad Astra” see here:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/theroyalairforcemotto.cfm
Although strictly speaking it’s not exactly what you may be looking for, it has the advantage of not having a direct English translation.
Peter