''Virtus non stemma'' is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Valor, not garland". This is the
Duke of Westminster
Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...
's motto at his stately home in
Eaton. The motto means, less literally: Courage, not pomp. The Duke also has many stately homes with the same motto. It is the motto of
Grosvenor Rowing Club
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Grosvenor Rowing Club is based on the Groves in Chester. It rows on the River Dee and has around 30 km of rowable river, much of which straight and broad.
The club colours are dark blue
and orange.
History
Grosvenor or is n ...
and also used to be the motto of
Harrow County School for Boys
Harrow may refer to:
Places
* Harrow, Victoria, Australia
* Harrow, Ontario, Canada
* The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland
* London Borough of Harrow, England
** Harrow, London, a town in London
** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency ...
where it was usually translated as 'Worth, not Birth'.
The Latin words can also be translated as "Virtue, not pedigree". An expansion of the phrase used in some heraldry documents, ''Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character,'' means: "Virtue, not pedigree, is the mark of nobility".
It was also the motto of the Grosvenor Hotel, originally the home of Lady Grosvenor, located at 35 Fifth Avenue in New York, (first building, 1876; second building 1926; a hotel until 1964, when it was purchased by New York University).
Latin mottos
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