What does novus ordo seclorum really mean?
It is a common belief amongst many folk that the phrase is translated as ‘New World Order,’ thus further fueling conspiracy theories above and beyond the normal call of duty. Not that I am stating there lies no conspiracy, small, medium, or large, behind the founding of our country and monetary system — of course there is. If there wasn’t, we’d still be trading solely hunks of metal and rope for some dog meat and blankets. ‘Novus’ is in fact correctly translated as ‘new,’ also meaning such things as ‘fresh,’ ‘strange,’ or ‘unusual.’ It is an adjective in nominative, masculine, singular form, thereby modifying the subject of the phrase. However, the use of the word ‘novus’ is interesting in itself, which we’ll get to in a moment. ‘Ordo’ is also essentially correctly translated as ‘order,’ also meaning such things as ‘rank,’ ‘series,’ or ‘line.’ It is a noun, which is being modified by ‘novus’ — nominative, masculine, singular in form as well. ‘Seclorum’ is another point of dispute. I
