Francisco de Holanda, The First day of Creation

"Let there be light" is an English translation of the

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 ...

(''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, the first part of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

phrase (''genēthḗtō phôs'') and the

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 ...

phrases ' and '.

Genesis 1

The phrase comes from the third verse of the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

. In the King James Bible, it reads, in context:

Origin and etymology

In biblical Hebrew, the phrase (''yəhî ’ôr'') is made of two words. (''yəhî'') is the third-person masculine singular jussive form of "to exist" and (''’ôr'') means "light." In the

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

the phrase is translated "" — ''kaì eîpen ho Theós genēthḗtō phôs kaì egéneto phôs''. ''Γενηθήτω'' is the imperative form of ''γίγνομαι'', "to come into being." The original Latinization of the Greek translation used in the

Vetus Latina ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, is the collective name given to the Latin translations of biblical texts (bot ...

was lux sit ("light – let it exist" or "let light exist"), which has been used occasionally, although there is debate as to its accuracy. In the Latin Vulgate Bible, the Hebrew phrase is translated in Latin as fiat lux. In context, the translation is "" ("And said God let there be light, and there was light"). Literally, ''fiat lux'' would be translated as "let light be made" (''fiat'' is the third person singular present

passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of o ...

subjunctive form of the verb ''facio'', meaning "to do" or "to make"). The

Douay–Rheims Bible The Douay–Rheims Bible (, ), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by member ...

translates the phrase, from the Vulgate, as "Be light made. And light was made."

Use by educational institutions

''Fiat lux'' or ''Sit lux'' appears in the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

and on the seals of a number of educational institutions, including: Fiat Lux also appears on the outside of Kerns Religious Life Center at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. The second half of the same verse, ''Et facta est lux'' appears on the seal of Morehouse College.

In literature

*The English phrase concludes Isaac Asimov's ''

The Last Question "The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was anthologized in the collections Nine Tomorrows (1959), The Best of Isaac A ...

'', symbolizing the godlike growth in power of an extremely advanced computer as it creates a new universe from the ashes of a dead one, drawing comparisons and suggesting an explanation for the biblical

. *

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's novel ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' (''The Miserable Ones'') speaks about the importance of daring and writes "That cry, 'Audace,' is a Fiat Lux!" *"Fiat Lux!" is the activating phrase in the setting of a Ward Major in

Katherine Kurtz Katherine Irene Kurtz (born October 18. 1944) is an American fantasy writer, author of sixteen historical fantasy novels in the '' Deryni'' series, as well as occult and urban fantasy. Resident in Ireland for over twenty years, she moved to Virg ...

's novel series '' Chronicles of the Deryni''. *The Fiat Lux Agency is the name of

Nestor Burma Nestor may refer to: * Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology Arts and entertainment * "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' * Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, ...

's private detective agency, in

Léo Malet Léo Malet (7 March 1909 – 3 March 1996) was a French crime novelist and surrealist. Biography Leo Malet was born in Montpellier. He had little formal education and began work as a cabaret singer at "La Vache Enragee" in Montmartre, Paris in 1 ...

's novel series ''New Mysteries of Paris''. *One of the three main divisions of Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s novel '' A Canticle for Leibowitz'' is titled "Fiat Lux". *

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

adapted the phrase in his epitaph for

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

, who made important advances in optics: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in Night. / God said, 'Let Newton be!' and all was light." *"Fiat Lux" is also used in the 1982 novel ''Die Insel des zweiten Gesichts'' by Albert Vigoleis Thelen.

References

External links