If you are in Paris, you definitely have run into this locution somewhere in the city: Fluctuat nec mergitur. This Latin motto means “he/she is rocked by the waves but does not sink” has been used a lot after the 2015’s terror attacks. Official motto since 1853, Fluctuat nec mergitur represents one of the many symbols of the capital city and shows its resilience.
In the 16th century, this Latin phrase was written on chips, but was only a motto among others. It is Baron Georges Eugène Haussmann – Prefect of the Seine during the Second Empire – who officially made it this important. But why associating the city to waves? The Baron wanted to remind the Seine flooding risk that the city used to experience regularly and that has always marked its story. Often in the water, the City of Paris yet never disappeared and always bounced back, whether it involved natural disasters, revolutions or other crises.
The motto is also related to the city’s coat of arms staging a sailing boat. The latter represents the Nautes de Lutèce, a merchant-sailor brotherhood that existed for centuries along the Seine. They developed trades in the city and created the Parisian municipality – the ancestor of the Paris mayor: the merchant Provost. The motto and the other symbols appeared long after on the Paris coat of arms, accompanying the boat, symbol of the city’s opening onto the rest of the world.
Monument, café, restaurant, bridge... Discover the oldest places in Paris?
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Monument, café, restaurant, bridge... Discover the oldest places in Paris?
