Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto explained

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto is a phrase in Latin that means "I am man, nothing that is human is indifferent to me".^[1]

It is a phrase originating from Publius Terence Afer (c. 184 BC - ~ 159 BC), from his comedy Heautontimorumenos (The tormentor of himself), from the year 165 BC, where it is pronounced by the character Cremes to justify his meddling.

Nevertheless, the quote has remained for posterity as a justification of what human behavior should be.

The phrase is often linked with pride, yet it usually reflects humility and an acknowledgment of personal fallibility, much like the sayings "to err is human" and "let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

Wolfson College's (Oxford) motto is a shortened version of the Latin phrase: Humani nil alienum.

A shortened version of the line, Latin: HVMANI NIHIL ALIENVM|italics=no, is used as the motto of various institutions, such as the Law Society of Scotland and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Grammatical analysis

The text contains two declarative sentences with the following literal meaning:

• Homo : masculine singular noun, in the nominative case, pronounced in Latin Homo, hominis and meaning 'man'.
• sum : first person singular of the present indicative of the verb sum, fui, esse, which means 'I am'.
• humani : adjective of the first class or group, genitive singular neuter, in Latin humanus, a, um, which means 'that which is human' or, simply, 'human'.
• nihil : neutral singular noun, in the accusative case, which is pronounced in Latin as nihil, nihilis, and means ''nothing '' .
• a : preposition governing the ablative in its complement, which normally means 'of', but which in this context can be translated as 'for'.
• me : personal pronoun in the ablative case introduced by the previous preposition, which means 'me'.
• alienum : adjective of the first group or class, in accusative singular neuter, which in Latin is pronounced alienus, a, um and which means 'stranger' or 'alien'.
• puto : verb of the first form of conjugation in the first person singular of the present active indicative, which in Latin is pronounced Puto, putas, putare, putavi, putatum and means 'I think' or 'I consider'.

Further reading

• Nowak . Olgierd Sebastian . Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto – the imperative of the principle of humanitas in views on slavery derived from natural law. M.T. Cicero’s views on the subject of slavery and slaves . The Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies Inspired by Pope John Paul II . 2020 . 11 . 2 . 155–186 . English . 2083-8018.
• Smith . Jonathan Z. . Nothing Human is Alien to Me . Religion . October 1996 . 26 . 4 . 297–309 . 10.1006/reli.1996.0024 . en . 0048-721X.
• Wharram . C. C. . Nothing Human . Educational Theory . October 2014 . 64 . 5 . 515–532 . 10.1111/edth.12078 . en . 0013-2004.

Notes and References

1. Jocelyn. H. D.. January 1973 . Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto (Terence, Heauton timorumenos 77). Antichthon. en. 7. 14–46. 10.1017/S0066477400004299. 0066-4774.