# Deeds through words



## myronmoore

as opposed to "Deeds, not words" ("Facta non verba")... Hello everybody, just need this motto translated and to this Latin ignoramus it should be "Facta per verba"... It's not much of a leap really, but I still feel like a blessing from the learned or maybe even something more fitting somebody who does writing for a living... Any help is much appreciated, Myron.


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## Cagey

"Per verba" does not mean "through" in the sense of "by means of".

_ facta verbis _should mean "things accomplished by words" but I am not certain that this would be clear.

Perhaps _verbis multa fiunt_ ("through words, many things come to be")?  I await the comments of others with bated breath.


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## myronmoore

Cagey, many thanks.. Always pays to consult those in the know..


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## Kevin Beach

Doesn't *Factum* signify more something made than something done? 

*Actum* is also a word for "deed", in the sense of something deliberately performed.


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## myronmoore

I see.. Interesting, would then "Acti ab verbis" make any sense (I assumed that "actus" was masculine and should be in the nominative)?


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## Kevin Beach

*Actum* is neuter, not masculine. The nominative, vocative and accusative plurals are all *Acta*.

Depending on the period of Latin*, I imagine that *Acta a(b) verbis* and *Acta e(x) verbis* might both convey what you want. However, a desire for style might motivate one to seek a version free of propositions. *Acta verbis* appeals to me.



*_Remember that the Romans themselves used the language for more than a thousand years before Rome fell to the Barbarians, without even beginning to contemplate what the medieval scholars did with the language!_


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## myronmoore

Kevin Beach said:


> *Acta verbis* appeals to me.


 
Doesn't it?! Talk about an "a-ha" moment! 

As a side note, I am starting to wonder what the Roman equivalent of your posting signature was.. Sounds so apropos..


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