Motto: Nec me fulgura?

[k***@gmail.com]

I recently found that the motto for the Lascaris de Vintimille family
was "Nec me fulgura." Using my extremely limited knowledge of Latin and
my Cassell's dictionary I come up with the literal translation of "Not
me brightness [or stroke of lightning]." Doesn't make much sense to me.
Could it be "Not my brightness"?, but even that is meaningless. I would
appreciate any help rendering this into meaningful English. Thanks.
--
John P. DuLong, Ph.D.
Acadian and French Canadian Genealogy
959 Oxford Road
Berkley, MI 48072-2011
[phone]
http://fp-www.wwnet.net/~dulongj

It actually means "Nothing blinds me", or "Nothing can blind me".

[Le Forgeron]

Post by k***@gmail.com

I recently found that the motto for the Lascaris de Vintimille family
was "Nec me fulgura." Using my extremely limited knowledge of Latin and
my Cassell's dictionary I come up with the literal translation of "Not
me brightness [or stroke of lightning]." Doesn't make much sense to me.
Could it be "Not my brightness"?, but even that is meaningless. I would
appreciate any help rendering this into meaningful English. Thanks.
--
John P. DuLong, Ph.D.
Acadian and French Canadian Genealogy
959 Oxford Road
Berkley, MI 48072-2011
[phone]
http://fp-www.wwnet.net/~dulongj

It actually means "Nothing blinds me", or "Nothing can blind me".

Or with kitchen-latin, it might be something like "and of course I
gleam", or even, with nec truncatated from "fluctat nec mergitur", with
english "all but" simile: "None but I excel".

[k***@gmail.com]

Actually not. I found a branch of this family in another state, and their motto translated on another coat of arms next to original one. It clearly says "nothing can blind me".

[e $$iri k_i]

Post by k***@gmail.com
Actually not. I found a branch of this family in another state, and their motto translated on another coat of arms next to original one. It clearly says "nothing can blind me".

Seems you already have the answer, but I was going to guess a self-deprecating "not too bright" ;-)

Or more seriously, "not even lightning!" as in the old postal service motto of neither rain, nor sleet, (bullets) and etc shall stop mail delivery...

[Jonathan Craven]

My guess is that "nec me fulgura" is a truncated citation, which I cannot
identify; but one must assume that there is a missing verb at the end, such as
"nec me fulgura terrent": and thunderbolts do not frighten me, for example (I
don't remember enough about scansion to make a guess as to the verb based on the meter).

I definitely back this view. It's literally "neither does lightning ___ me", with the blank being omitted as unnecessary. I'd translate it into English as "neither does lightning get me" or "lightning doesn't get me" (because it's necessary to supply the verb in English, so we have verbs like "get" that don't really mean anything).

Here's a perfect example of the kind of poem it probably is inspired by:
<http://distichalatina.blogspot.fr/2012/01/per-tela-per-ignes.html>
(Though the dates don't match for that to be the actual source, unless the motto is a later addition.)

Moreover, a gazillion websites in French translate the verse as "même la foudre ne peut m'atteindre" or something similar, which is pretty much the exact equivalent of how I rendered it in English.

If someone wants to translate it as "nothing can blind me", that's fine, it matches the general sense, but it's hardly a literal translation.

[t***@gmail.com]

It means "nothing will strike me" i.e. such as thunder, so it implies that "I'm invincible."...

[Alex Maxwell Findlater]

If you take 'fulgura' to be an imperative, that it might be nec (and not) me (at me) fulgura (throw a thunderbolt). The 'nec' suggests that it is part of a longer phrase, and was expected to be understood, as previously suggested.

It's the sort of thing I say to my friends all the time.

[Alex Maxwell Findlater]

If you take 'fulgura' to be an imperative, that it might be nec (and not) me (at me) fulgura (throw a thunderbolt). The 'nec' suggests that it is part of a longer phrase, and was expected to be understood, as previously suggested. So: "and do not throw thunderbolts at me."

It's the sort of thing I say to my friends all the time.