The footballer David Beckham has had new tattoos imprinted on his arms,
complete with Latin tags. One reads perfectio in spiritu, ‘perfection in spirit’, the other ut amem et foveam, ‘to love and to cherish’, translated into Latin from the Solemnisation of Matrimony in the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. What is going on?
Tattoos have a long history going back to 11th-dynasty Egypt (c. 2000 bc). They were especially popular in Britain – Britanni, originally Pretani or Priteni, meant ‘painted/tattooed people’ (cf. Latin Picti). These days they have become a form of heraldry, marking the body rather than the shield with one’s personal ‘coat of arms’, for sexual as well as social purposes.
When the idea of heraldry first emerged from the Crusades in the 12th century, mottos tended to be in French, usually battle cries (Dieu et Mon Droit!).
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