# Ab hinc ad infinitum



## drcs

Dear all,

_*"Ab hinc ad infinitum"
*_
Could you tell if the following phrase is correct? Different dictionaries provide me with different results. This one sounds the best for me. Ex nunc ad infitium, ab initio ad infinitum - they sound too "legal". Hinc usque in aeternum, amodo usque in sempiternum, they doesn't sound good to me.


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## wandle

What do you want the phrase to mean?


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## drcs

"From here/now until forever"


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## wandle

Catullus has a well-known phrase: _*Nunc et in aeternum, frater, ave atque vale.*_ Literally: '_Now and forever, brother, hail and farewell'_.

When we consider that the reference of *in aeternum* starts where _*nunc*_ finishes, we see that *n*_*unc et in aeternum *_means in effect 'from now, and for ever onwards'.


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## drcs

Thank you! But does that mean, that the pharse "Ab hinc, ad infinitum" is wrong? And what do you think about "Ab illo tempore, ad infinitum/in aeternum"?


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## wandle

_*Abhinc*_ usually refers to the past; _*amodo*_ is not classical Latin; _*ab illo tempore*_ means 'from that time'.

The best term for 'henceforth', 'from now on', is _*dehinc*_;  *in aeternum* (literally 'into the eternal') is better than _*ad aeternum*_ ('towards the eternal').

Putting these together, you could say _*dehinc in aeternum*_.


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## Scholiast

salvete!

The doxology to the _Gloria_ in the Latin Mass concludes "et nunc et semper, in saecula saeculorum". Any use?

Σ


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