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Sunday, February 20, 2011

In saecula saeculorum

In saecula saeculorum
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The Latin phrase in saecula saeculorum expresses the idea of eternity. It is biblical, taken from the Vulgate translation of the New Testament, rendering Greek εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. The usual English translation is "for ever and ever", but in Ephesians 3:21, the KJV notably has "world without end". Neither translation is literal, as the time span invoked is not literally eternity but an aiōn in Greek, translated as saeculum in Latin, and elevated to "an aiōn of aiōna" or "a saeculum of saecula". The saeculum in Roman antiquity was the potential maximal human lifespan, or roughly a century. The original meaning of aiōn was comparable, and it is so used in Homer and Hesiod. So, presumably a "century of centuries" or "an age of ages" would amount to "ten thousand years".

Some alternative English translations aim at greater literalness in their rendition of Ephesians 3:21: Young's Literal Translation and the Darby Translation have "of the age of the ages", Webster's Revision has "throughout all ages" while the New Living Translation has "through endless ages".

The phrase occurs twelve times in the Book of Revelation alone, and another seven times in epistles, but not in the gospels: