' (Latin for "What I have written, I have written") is a
Latin phrase
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This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English.
''To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full)''
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. It was most famously used by
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...
in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...
in response to the Jewish priests who objected to his writing on the sign (''
titulus
Titulus, the Latin word for "title", "label" or "inscription" (plural ''tituli'', normally italicized), may or may not be italicized as a foreign word, and may refer to:
* ''Titulus'', or Titular church, one of a group of Early Christian churches ...
'') that was hung above
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
at
his Crucifixion. It is mostly found in the Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus&nbs ...
Bible. It is equivalent to the Latin expression ''Dixi'' (Latin for "I have said"), meaning that the speaker has spoken and there is no more to be said.
History
The phrase appears in the Bible in
John 19
John 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.Holman Illustrate ...
:20–22. When Jesus was sent to be crucified, Pilate wrote the sign to be hung above Jesus on the cross. He wrote "
Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
(or, more correctly,
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
.) Latin and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
. The Jewish priests voiced their objections of this to Pilate, stating that Jesus had only claimed the title and they did not recognise Him as such. They said to Pilate, "Do not write King of the Jews, but that he said: 'I am the King of the Jews'."
Pilate responded to them sternly with "Quod scripsi, scripsi" (, ''Ho gegrapha gegrapha''). This was interpreted by
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
as an allusion to the headings of
Psalm 56 and
Psalm 57
Psalm 57 is the 57th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me". In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and the ...
, which in the
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus&nbs ...
seem to refer to an inscription that is not to be changed.
The scene where Pilate says "Quod scripsi, scripsi" was not covered in art or discussion as a popular subject. Aside of the
Bury St. Edmunds Cross
The Cloisters Cross (also known as the Bury St Edmunds Cross), is a complex 12th-century ivory Romanesque altar cross or processional cross. It is named after The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which acquired it in ...
there was little discussion on it in the pre-Reformation Christian Church. It was suggested that this may have been because it is only mentioned in detail by
John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...
and because it was mentioned in the apocryphal
Acts of Pilate.
Other uses
In 1306, when
Henry II of Jerusalem signed a patent to give the
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus (french: Royaume de Chypre, la, Regnum Cypri) was a state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but it also had a foothold on the Ana ...
to the governorship of
Amalric, Lord of Tyre, the marshal of the temple accompanying Amalric reportedly said "Quod scripsi, scripsi" with disdain to Henry when he signed the patent.
On being released from imprisonment in 1418,
Antipope John XXIII
Baldassarre Cossa (c. 1370 – 22 December 1419) was Pisan antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church regards him as an antipope, as he opposed Pope Gregory XII whom the Catholic Church now recognizes a ...
came, broken down and destitute, to Florence, and was given an asylum there by
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, who, when the deposed Pope died in the following year, erected to his memory
the tomb which is to be seen in the
Florence Baptistery
The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni), is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del D ...
. When the inscription was put up (after Giovanni's death),
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V ( la, Martinus V; it, Martino V; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Otto (or Oddone) Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. Hi ...
objected to the words "Quandam Papa" (former Pope) and wrote to the
Signoria
A signoria () was the governing authority in many of the Italian city states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
The word signoria comes from ''signore'' , or "lord"; an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government; governing authority; ...
demanding that they should be erased. The reply was a refusal, written by
Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealt ...
, and couched in the words of Pontius Pilate, saying, "Quod scripsi, scripsi."
The philosopher
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aes ...
used a play on "Quod scripsi, scripsi" in response to critics of his ''
Metaphysics of Morals
The ''Metaphysics of Morals'' (german: Die Metaphysik der Sitten) is a 1797 work of political and moral philosophy by Immanuel Kant. In structure terms, it is divided into two sections: the ''Doctrine of Right'', dealing with rights, and the ''D ...
'', using "Quod scripsi, scribentes" (What I have written, I am writing).
References
{{Gospel of John, state=collapsed
Latin words and phrases
Crucifixion of Jesus
Biblical phrases
Pontius Pilate
Gospel of John