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Augeo et Gaudeo

Would that be a grammatically correct way of saying: "(I) Increase and Rejoice" ?

The point of this is to make a short motto out of Augeo and Gaudeo, rather than to say "(I) increase and rejoice", in which case I could just use the motto "Cresco et Exulto".

But, out of interest, how compatible or comparable would "Augeo et Gaudeo" be to "Cresco et Exulto"?

[Note: "Cresco et Exulto" comes from the first line of Seneca the Younger's beautiful 34th Epistle, "On a Promising Pupil", and reads: "Cresco et exsulto et discussa senectute recalesco quotiens ex iis quae agis ac scribis intellego quantum te ipse - nam turbam olim reliqueras - superieceris." In English: "I grow in spirit and leap for joy and shake off my years and my blood runs warm again, whenever I understand, from your actions and your letters, how far you have outdone yourself; for as to the ordinary man, you left him in the rear long ago."]

And, having stated my purpose, are there other mottos I could make out of Augeo and Gaudeo?

cmw
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Johan88
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1 Answers1

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Depends on what you mean by "I increase" - you increase something, or are you yourself growing larger? There is a distinction there.

While you can use augeo for the latter, it's rare and more often restricted to the former meaning. You enlarge something.

If you are talking about growing yourself, like "I increase in size," then you should use cresco or augesco or even incresco, whence "increase."

Gaudeo is a perfectly good word for "I rejoice."

cmw
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  • Growing spirituality and/or in knowledge. Is Augeo only for physical growth? – Johan88 Nov 05 '17 at 15:39
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    @user1988 In either case, it's chiefly transitive, whereas you want an intransitive verb. Try the others I suggested, and yes, they would all work for physical growth. – cmw Nov 05 '17 at 15:45
  • so is "Augeo et Gaudeo" grammatically correct? – Johan88 Nov 05 '17 at 16:27
  • and Augeo can only refer to physical growth, but cannot figuratively refer to spiritual/intellectual growth? – Johan88 Nov 05 '17 at 16:28
  • Logeion has, for example, "periculum in dies augetur, danger is increased day by day". So could it not refer figuratively to, for example, knowledge growing - without actually specifying what is growing? – Johan88 Nov 05 '17 at 16:31
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    Hi @user1988. Sorry, in my comment I meant to say "Yes it would work for spiritual growth." That is fine. The problem isn't the translation, it's what you think the English words mean. – cmw Nov 05 '17 at 18:08
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    @user1988 Augetur is passive. That doesn't actually say "danger grows" but "danger is increased". Something else made the periculum to be increased. That's a fine distinction to make. If you must keep augeo, then the form would be Augeor et Gaudeo. – cmw Nov 05 '17 at 18:10
  • Thank you so much Mr @C.M.Weimer. Always a pleasure to hear your input ! Danke vielmals ! – Johan88 Nov 05 '17 at 18:19
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    @user1988 Mit Vergnügen ! – cmw Nov 05 '17 at 19:18
  • @Johan88 How do I get in touch with you outside SE? – cmw Dec 27 '19 at 02:28