fortis. Fortuna. adiuvat. [FFFAK]

FORTIS FORTUNA ADIUVAT should never be translated as “Fortune Favours the Bold/Brave”; nor is this the motto of the US Marine Corps. (who use, ‘fortES fortuna Juvat’); Nor is it Christian— In fact, it’s a proverb about a pagan goddess. One could also note that revenge is thoroughly Un-Christian, to say nothing of super-multiple homicide sprees.

With this spelling in particular, the Latin is the oldest kind — much older than the modern latin the US Marine Corps uses, and older even than medieval or Church Latin; A proverb that was considered ancient even in the pre-christian times of Caesar. It is quite pagan in spirit. Moreover, it is this very pagan-ness that is critical to understanding the latin in the context of this Anti-Hero’s scratched out and contradictory tattoos.

You can skip my notes, but you shouldn’t.

fortis = “(The) Strong (ones)”. A plural noun — it refers to a specific class of people, not to an abstract like ‘Strength’, nor the intention or attitude of ‘boldness’ or ‘bravery’ — for which there are robur, audacia or fortitudo respectively.

Fortuna = is a Roman Goddess, the personification of Luck and/or Fate. A spiritual force that could be just as much bad as good. Note that Her name is placed at the centre of the tattoo and — if you look closely — slightly capitalised in the tattoo’s calligraphy, in the same way that we Capitalise proper nouns in english. It is not mere ‘good fortune’, in the sense of good luck, nor of ‘a fortune’ in the sense of money. This is the goddess of fate and luck.

adiuvat = AD ‘to/toward’ + IUVAT ‘help/aid/save’ — particularly of a goddess, ‘comes to save’/’comes to the aid of’ is the best choice here. Not ‘favours’ which takes poetic license to give an F-F alliteration in English.

Knowing these things you can render it into modern english, and english word order, to catch the sentiment better like this:

fortes Fortuna aduivat:
“It is only The Strong ones that Fortuna (The Goddess) comes to save.”