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The phrase ''Novus ordo seclorum'' (Latin for "New order of the ages"; (:ˈnoʊvəs ˈɔrdoʊ sɛˈklɔərəm); (:'nowus ordo se'clorum)) appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, first designed in 1782 and printed on the back of the United States one-dollar bill since 1935. The phrase is sometimes mistranslated as "New World Order" by people who believe in a conspiracy behind the design.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Novus Ordo Seclorum - Origin and Meaning of the Motto Beneath the American Pyramid )〕 == Origin and phrase meaning == The phrase is a reference to the fourth ''Eclogue'' of Virgil,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Source of NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM )〕 which contains a passage (lines 5-8〔(P. Vergilius Maro, Eclogues,J. B. Greenough, Ed. )〕) that reads: The forms ''saecla'', ''saeclorum'' etc. were normal alternatives to the more common ''saecula'' etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The form ''saeculorum'' is impossible in hexameter verse: the ''ae'' and ''o'' are long, the ''u'' short by position. For the medieval exchange between ''ae'', ''æ'' and ''e'', see Æ; the word ''medieval'' (''mediæval'') itself is another example.〔See declension of the second declension noun ''saeculum'' (or ''saeclum'' in its poetic form) at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/saeculum〕 Medieval Christians read Virgil's poem as a prophecy of the coming of Christ. The Augustan Age, although pre-Christian, was viewed as a golden age preparing the world for the coming of Christ. The great poets of this age were viewed as a source of revelation and light upon the Christian mysteries to come.〔Ann Raftery Meyer: (Medieval allegory and the building of the new Jerusalem ) DS Brewer, 2003. ISBN 978-0-85991-796-4〕 The word ''seclorum'' does not mean "secular", as one might assume, but is the genitive (possessive) plural form of the word ''saeculum'', meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age. ''Saeculum'' did come to mean "age, world" in late, Christian Latin, and "secular" is derived from it, through ''secularis''. However, the adjective "secularis," meaning "worldly," is not equivalent to the genitive plural "seclorum," meaning "of the ages."〔Lewis and Short, ''A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D''. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1879, ''s. vv.''〕 Thus the motto ''Novus ordo seclorum'' can be translated as "A new order of the ages." It was proposed by Charles Thomson, the Latin expert who was involved in the design of the Great Seal of the United States, to signify "the beginning of the new American Era" as of the date of the Declaration of Independence.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Novus Ordo Seclorum - Origin and Meaning of the Motto Beneath the American Pyramid )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Novus ordo seclorum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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