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#204000 01/02/12 03:15 PM
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Perhaps somebody out there will now be stimulated by "numinous" to propose a satisfactory translation for the University of Wisconsin's mysterious motto, "numen lumen".


Murray Stone, Westerose, Alberta
murraystone #204007 01/02/12 09:05 PM
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How satisfactory should it be?

Link

BTW. Just curious. Is Westerose a real town or city?

BranShea #204013 01/03/12 01:46 AM
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Wiki can be your friend, Bran laugh

Westerose

Nice link to the hall....and I see the whole motto is "Astra castra, Numen lumen"....if thats the one Murraystone is referring too!

Numen as relating to the mind rather than senses but also sometimes to the power or magic of an object...similar but different to 'mana' as used by the NZ Maori to describe value, great personal prestige of a person or thing.




Candy #204066 01/05/12 10:09 PM
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Some people here show invented locations or locations from stories. I was curious if Westerose refered to Westeros, one part of the various parts of imaginary worlds in the fantasy serial " A Song of Ice and Fire ".

murraystone #204067 01/06/12 12:27 AM
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True......maybe it is at that!

Candy #204082 01/06/12 12:33 PM
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Or is it related to Wester Ross, in Scotland?

"Wester Ross is geographically regarded as the western watershed of Ross-shire, but administrative and political boundaries diverge from this and have been subject to several changes and inconsistencies.

Wester Ross is a popular scenic tourism destination, although the level of this has declined considerably since the 1970s. Tourism still forms a major part of the economic activity of the area, particularly with the dramatic declines in fishing over the same period.

Wester Ross contains notable beauty spots such as Loch Maree, Inverewe Garden, Corrieshalloch Gorge, Glen Docherty and Bealach na Ba. But it is its mountains for which Wester Ross is renowned, in a unique and very old landscape."


I'm immortal until proven otherwise
BranShea #204083 01/06/12 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
Some people here show invented locations or locations from stories. I was curious if Westerose refered to Westeros, one part of the various parts of imaginary worlds in the fantasy serial " A Song of Ice and Fire ".


Or vice versa. The bare numen lumen is the motto of the University of Wisconsin, a fair distance from Westeros(e).

Faldage #204084 01/06/12 04:00 PM
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here's what the UofW has to say 'officially' regarding numen lumen (dig the expanded version given by UW's first chancellor, John Lathrop!) link

tsuwm #204120 01/08/12 07:02 PM
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It's more and more becoming alum aluminium to me. Thanks all for letting your light shine. confused

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alum aluminium

Not wuite sure what all the hubbub's about. Latin numen (literally 'nod (of the head)' means something like 'divine will, godhead' or 'divinity' in an abstract sort of way (the Romans have some many named gods). I like the term god's nod; it just lighted up my day. From what I read in the University's take on their motto, it's the syntax of numen lumen that some classicists carp on. This doesn't make much sense to me. Associating a god's power with some kind of bright light seems almost a cliche to me, but who knows ...


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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