rawegg

Reading a book on philosophy that has "PATRI DILECTISSIMO SACRUM" on the cover leaf. My two years of high school Latin fail me as do several Latin to English websites. Can anyone out there help?

Alethias

I think you'll be more likely to get an answer to this in the Biblical Criticism & History Forum, so I'm moving it there.

Alethias
Philosophy Forum Moderator

Ben C Smith

It should mean consecrated to the beloved father or some such. Sounds like one of those things Catholics like to put on their books, in the same vein as nihil obstat, but I could be wrong about that.

Ben.

rawegg

Thanks Ben, I appreciate it. I figured it was something like that, but I wanted to hear from people who know more about those things than I do.

darstec

Pretty close except it is superlative -- most beloved.

Ben C Smith

You are correct. It is superlative. Thanks for the edit.

Ben.

Huon

It could also be "consecrated to my most beloved father". A dedication. Anyway, it is not the title of the book.

Lucretius

Just what I was going to say
It slightly mimics the form of address in a Latin/Roman letter in fact and I would say that it is merely a dedication to his father .

darstec

Yes, patri delectissimo is dative and MY is understood. However SACRUM is a noun so a consecration, blessing or dedication would be more apt. I haven't seen that exact phrase anywhere in the Latin books I have but perhaps neither Julius Caesar nor Homer dedicated their works to anyone.

I wonder how old and what language the philosophy book in which it was found was written?

rawegg

First, thanks everyone for the excellent help!

Darstec asked in what language and when the text was published. The book is written in English, published in 1989 and reprinted in 2006. The topic I'm researching is about a pesky figure that predates much of Catholic doctrine, and not surprisingly he does not get an even hand from those quarters. The translation of the author's dedication supports my suspicion that he had "other loyalties". I was particularly interested if he was merely dedicating the book to his father or to a deity. Since he does not mention his father in his acknowledgments, and given the excellent input from this site, I think I can safely assume with reasonable certitude the author has a background that could bias his work.