Posted on 01/30/2013 7:48:09 AM PST by EXCH54FE
If you are a reader of comments here at American Thinker then you have probably noticed an increasing use of the term molon labe. For those of you unfamiliar with the term and too busy (or too lazy) to look it up, I've done it for you.
It is a Greek expression first attributed to King Leonidas of Sparta when the Persian invader Xerxes I, prior to the Battle of Thermopylae, demanded that the Spartans lay down their arms and submit to him. Its essential meaning was, "Up yours, pal: come do your worst." In so many words, it is the Greek equivalent of the response of Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe* of the 101st Airborne Division, who when surrounded at Bastogne, Belgium during WWII, reportedly said, "Nuts!" to a German demand for surrender. Screaming Eagle lore has it that the defiant general's actual response to the German general was in language unreportable in those more discreet days, "Eff you, Kraut!" Whatever, the unflinching meaning of both statements is abundantly clear:
"Come on, hoss; take your best shot."
According to multiple web sources, molon labe now translates to an unwavering, "Come and take it," as in Charleton Heston's defiant challenge at the 2000 NRA convention, "From my cold dead hands." Considering that the expression, in one form or another, has been quite forcefully and purposefully addressed to would-be tyrants by very strong and admirable men, from Leonidas to Heston, many of us find a sense of oneness with men of such resolve, embracing their defiance and applying it to our own determination to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear protective weaponry free from federal constraints.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
MOLON LABE
What he said...
Our representatives need to stop accepting the left’s “front” issues, which are simply incrementalism.
Address their end goal (total confiscation), and tell them “nuts” on any incremental steps toward that goal.
Please describe the symbol- I hate symbols that are not clearly defined. Thanks.
How about a saying that is less egg head and makes sense to the common man.
We already have one, from 1776 and from 1835: Come and Take It.
Educate the common man if we can.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson
Come and take it if you can!!
MOLON LABE
I looked that up the first time someone posted it. Been thinking recently. Maybe I should have use some spare time, however small that time is, to learn Latin. Something to keep my mind learning and a break for what we are preparing for. Here is a website I found with what appears to add on to the meaning you posted.
http://thefiringline.com/HCI/molon_labe.htm
Google Generation Identitaire
I don't like the invitation to come and get me I like I will take my stuff back.
What is that thing?
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson
Come and take them if you can!!
MOLON LABE
Molon (accent on the last syllable) is a participle ("coming"), from the verb blosko meaning "to go," or "to come."
Labe (accent on the "e") is an imperative, "take!"
The ancient pronunciation of the "b" (beta) would have been like English "b," not "v" (as in the Modern Greek pronunciation of beta).
So literally, "coming, take!" but in better English "come and take them!"
The symbol for Christians in battle. The shields in the movie 300 had them.
I did not know that. I had many in the big red cross of the Crusaders in my family. That is the first time in a long time that I went to Google.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.