Hi! Welcome to “Dusty Phrases.” You will find below an ancient phrase in one language or another, along with its English translation. You may also find the power to inspire your friends or provoke dread among your enemies.
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Latin:
Cave Canem
English:
Beware of dog
During excavations in Pompeii, this mosaic was uncovered. Honestly, this is a vast improvement on the little sign you see in modern times on the back gate. Going to the trouble of putting it down as a mosaic really stands on business.
Usually I encourage readers to implement the Latin phrase, in place of the English one, but here I will diverge from my tradition. For legal reasons, it’s probably not a good idea to assume that Latin speakers will be those in need of the warning. But if you want to make it part of the floor *inside* your house, in addition to the common tongue warning on your door or gate, I think that would be excellent.
more via wiki
Beware of the dog (also rendered as beware of dog) is a warning sign posted at the entrance to a building or other private area indicating that a dangerous dog is within. Such signs may be placed to deter burglary even if there is no dog, or if the dog is not actually a competent guard dog.
History
Warning signs of this sort have been found in ancient Roman buildings such as the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, which contains a mosaic with the caption cave canem (pronounced [ˈkäu̯eː ˈkänɛ̃ˑ]). The Roman work Satyricon, written by Petronius, includes a passage mentioning the phrase cave canem painted on a wall with large letters, in the chapter Dinner with Trimalchio.
Philippians 3:2 is translated as “beware of the dogs” or “beware of dogs” in the King James Bible and many other editions. For example:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
This is often interpreted as a euphemism, bad people having been described as dogs in a number of previous biblical passages. Nonetheless, the yard signs are sometimes alluded to in reference to the passage. The use of such signs in the Roman world may have influenced the author of the passage, and conversely the passage may have influenced the wording of the more modern yard signs.