Question: What Is the Correct Latin for "Deus Lo Volt"?
"Since the movie Kingdom of Heaven has come out, my friends and I have been having discussions on the Crusades. I have a question regarding the term/phrase "God wills it". It was apparently the war cry of the Crusaders. I have seen it written in Latin (I believe) as "Deus Lo Volt". But some of my friends say it should be "Deus Volt". None of us studied Latin in school. Can anyone clarify this for us."
Posted by schwatk in the Ancient/Classical History Forum.
Posted by schwatk in the Ancient/Classical History Forum.
Answer: The Classical Latin is Deus vult, not Deus volt, or Deus Lo Volt, from the irregular Latin verb volo, velle, volui. Deus Lo Volt is a corruption of this. In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter LVIII: The First Crusade, Edward Gibbon explains this corruption:
- Deus vult, Deus vult! was the pure acclamation of
the clergy who understood Latin.... By
the illiterate laity, who spoke the Provincial or Limousin idiom,
it was corrupted to Deus lo volt, or Diex el volt.
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