# Bene Disce Omnia Potes



## ericaustin1305

Dear all,

I visited a school some days before and I found a sentence on the badge.
"Bene Disce Omina Potes"

It is something like the motto of the school. My friend and I have checked through the Latin dictionary, but we still could not firm that whether it is Latin.

Please feel free to discus about this.


----------



## diegodbs

ericaustin1305 said:
			
		

> Dear all,
> 
> I visited a school some days before and I found a sentence on the badge.
> "Bene Disce Omina Potes"
> 
> It is something like the motto of the school. My friend and I have checked through the Latin dictionary, but we still could not firm that whether it is Latin.
> 
> Please feel free to discus about this.


 
Hi, that is a Latin sentence. But I think there is a mistake in the word "omina", it should be "*omnia*". Then it makes sense. "Learn well and you'll achieve everything"
Regards.


----------



## ericaustin1305

diegodbs said:
			
		

> "Learn well and you'll achieve everything"
> Regards.


 
Dear all, 

I have checked in many Latin-English dictionary, but when I keyed in 'everything' or 'achieve', it did not show the word 'Omnia' or 'Potes". Can anyone be so kind to show me how this sentence works?

Thanks a lot.


----------



## Outsider

I may be wrong, but I think the sentence means "Be well-spoken, and you can achieve anything".

Bene: adv. well 
Disce Dice: v. speak; form of _dico_
Omnia: pron. anything
Potes: v. achieve; form of _possum_


----------



## diegodbs

Outsider said:
			
		

> I may be wrong, but I think the sentence means "Be well-spoken, and you can achieve anything".
> 
> Bene: adv. well
> Disce Dice: v. speak; form of _dico_
> Omnia: pron. anything
> Potes: v. achieve; form of _possum_


 
Hi Outsider:
Don't you think that the word could be "disce"? They found the sentence when visiting a school. I never thought that the word could be "dice", perhaps because I remembered "Knowledge is power" when I saw the Latin sentence.
Regards.


----------



## Outsider

I think you're right. So it's probably:

Bene: adv. well 
*Disce: v. learned, form of disco*
Omnia: pron. anything
Potes: v. achieve; form of _possum_

"Learn well, and you can achieve anything."


----------



## Whodunit

Outsider said:
			
		

> Bene: adv. well
> Disce Dice: v. speak; form of _dico_
> Omnia: pron. anything
> Potes: v. achieve; form of _possum_


 
I don't like your version, because "disce" (imperative) is derived from "discere" meaning "to learn/study". "Bene" and "omnia" are correctly translated as "efficiently" and "anything/everything", respectively. "Potes" (imperative) is derived from "posse" meaning "to be able to/achieve":

Learn well, achieve anything!


----------



## diegodbs

Outsider said:
			
		

> I think you're right. So it's probably:
> 
> Bene: adv. well
> *Disce: v. learned, form of disco*
> Omnia: pron. anything
> Potes: v. achieve; form of _possum_
> 
> "Learn well, and you can achieve anything."


 
Yes, that's what I thought it meant, and apart from the fact that it reminded me of "knowledge is power", two mistakes "disce and omina" in such a short sentence seemed "too much" as we would say in Spanish.
Regards.


----------



## Outsider

diegodbs said:
			
		

> Yes, that's what I thought it meant, and apart from the fact that it reminded me of "knowledge is power", two mistakes "disce and omina" in such a short sentence seemed "too much" as we would say in Spanish.


Quite so. 

*Whodunit*, please disregard my first post, and consider the second.


----------



## Whodunit

Outsider said:
			
		

> *Whodunit*, please disregard my first post, and consider the second.


 
Haha, no problem. I'll keep my post anyway, since it should show that the phrase could be a slogan: two imperatives as a consequence.


----------

