Writing is educational. I keep learning new things. Recently, it’s been Latin. After a few go-rounds for clarification and refinement and correction with Paul and a prof at Seattle U, we have figured out the proper Latin for Tajemnica’s original motto and her new one.

Consero deletum was her commissioning motto, and it means “I close to destroy.” Simple, to the point, up front. Doesn’t leave a lot of room for misunderstanding.

Liberos transfero qui terras liberas faciant is the “new business” motto, meaning “I  carry free people to create free worlds.” Also to the point.

I think of them as two sides of the Armadillo coin. If you want to work with them for freedom, they’d be happy to help you out. Get in the way… and find out up close and personally just what deletum really means.

[Later edit and tangential note: I had contacted several UW Classics grad students with my Latin translation question. I wasn’t just asking them “here translate this for me,” it was “Latin is important, I want to do this properly, did I get it right?” I didn’t get so much as a form-letter email “we don’t do that” in reply from ANY of them. Upon the suggestion of my editor, a SU grad (“A lot of old Jesuits, there”), I picked the first one mentioning “Latin” in his profile and “cold-called,” sending him an email, only to receive a polite and helpful reply within hours. We exchanged a dozen or so emails to get the details ironed out. SU profs rocks! UW Classics grad students? Meh.]