# Knowledge is for everyone.



## septinlenewvie

Scientia omnibus pro est - Knowledge is for everyone.

Vobis gratias ago!


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## Cagey

Your version works, with a slight change in the word order:
_Scientia pro omnibus est._​


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## septinlenewvie

Yeah see I knew that, but I wanted to move around the words so I could easily do:

Scientia
Omnibus
Pro Est

Because I want to get a tattoo and I want it lined up like that.


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## Cagey

I am doubtful about putting _pro_ after its case.  However, now that you have provided the _context_, I can see why you want to.
_
Scientia est pro omnibus _seems acceptable and might be broken up into:_Scientia_
_ est pro _
_ omnibus_.​Perhaps someone else will have a different opinion, or another suggestion.


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## Elocutio

septinlenewvie said:


> Yeah see I knew that, but I wanted to move around the words so I could easily do:
> 
> Scientia
> Omnibus
> Pro Est
> 
> Because I want to get a tattoo and I want it lined up like that.



As Cagey said, this is wrong, Nonetheless, you can keep that order by adding a word:

Scientia
Ominibus
Pro Gentibus


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## Flaminius

How about replacing _pro omnibus est_ with _omnibus prodest_?  In the latter wording _prodest_ is a verb in the sense of "be useful to" with a dative noun.

Scientia
omnibus
prodest


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## furrykef

You can never put a preposition after a word it modifies. That's why they're called _pre_-positions.


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## Flaminius

furrykef said:


> You can never put a preposition after a word it modifies. That's why they're called _pre_-positions.


It's not always true, *furrykef*.  After all, prepositions emerged from adverbs, which are one of the most fickle elements in parts of speech.

Here are examples of floating _cum_ (sorry, I don't know the exact technical term for this phenomenon):
magna cum laude
summa cum laude

Prepositions often break in between the governed noun and the adjective that modifies it.

In _prodest_ (< _prosum_), _pro-_ is a Latin preverb meaning "before", "for", "on behalf of" and so on.  It goes back to PIE _*per_.


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## septinlenewvie

So y'all are telling me that never in the history of Latin they didn't put the preposition after the noun. Not even in prose or poetry where they put anything everywhere. What's the point of declensions if it is understood that the ablative (omnibus) goes with the preposition (pro)?


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## Cagey

It's hard to know what was done outside of the literary records, where people may not have conformed to grammatical standards. We have graffitti, of course, but I don't know what, if any, evidence it provides for the position of prepositions. A quick scan of _Lewis and Short_ doesn't find any examples of _pro_ following its noun in the classical authors, though there may have been some instances. 

Inflexion allows some freedom of position of words, but not complete freedom.  Their endings help us match nouns and adjectives, but we depend on the position of uninflected forms like adverbs and prepositions to know how to read them.  

Nothing prevents your doing your tattoo as you like.  The problem I see is that if you put _pro_ after its noun, people who have studied Latin and have few opportunities to make use of their knowledge will be inclined to tell you that you have made a mistake. 

People who haven't studied Latin will not know the difference.

Note: You will notice that Flaminius' "floating _cum_" occurs when a noun is modified by an adjective: the preposition goes between the two.  _Cum_ can also follow pronouns as in _mecum_.  However, in general, _cum_ precedes an unmodified noun; that is, it has a predictable position.


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