pecunia non olet
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word pecunia non olet. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word pecunia non olet, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say pecunia non olet in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word pecunia non olet you have here. The definition of the word pecunia non olet will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofpecunia non olet, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Latin
Etymology
Literally “money does not stink”. According to Suetonius, this sentence was Vespasian's reply to his son Titus, complaining about the urine tax he had imposed.
Compare English where there's muck there's brass.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /peˈkuː.ni.a noːn ˈo.let/,
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /peˈku.ni.a non ˈo.let/,
Phrase
- money does not smell (the value of money is not affected by the business it comes from, even from the most unpleasant one)
Descendants
- → Dutch: geld stinkt niet (calque)
- → English: money does not smell (calque)
- → French: l’argent n’a pas d’odeur (calque)
- → German: Geld stinkt nicht (calque)
- → Russian: де́ньги не па́хнут (dénʹgi ne páxnut) (calque)