Florebo quocumque ferar

Blazon of the French East India Company

Flōrēbō quōcumque ferar is a Latin phrase which can be translated in English as "I will flourish wherever I am brought", i.e. "I will flourish wherever I go".

During the 17th and 18th century it was designated as the motto of the French East India Company by Louis XIV, and is written on its blazon.[1]

The phrase is the motto of Réunion island, a French overseas department and an outermost region of the European Union in the South West Indian Ocean.[2] It is also on the blazon created by the former governor Emile Merwart during the colonial exhibition held in Petite-Île in 1925.[3]

Florebo quocumque ferar is also the motto of the Vergriete family (the "House of Griete"), a family of Flemish nobles attached to the seigneury of Cassel. The family name, from the Dutch word for daisy,[4] has been associated with this motto since the 16th century.[5]

References

  1. ^ Martin, Henri (1865). Martin's History of France: The Age of Louis XIV, Volume 1. Walker, Wise and Company. p. 104,106. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. ^ Minahan, James (2010). The complete guide to national symbols and emblems. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Press. p. 888. ISBN 9780313344978. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  3. ^ Argyll, Claude (1935). Escale aux Mascareignes: île de la Réunion, île Maurice. J. Crès. p. 295. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Vergriete". geneanet.org. Geneanet. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  5. ^ « Mémoires of Théodore Leuridan, commander of Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand, former librarian/archivist of the city of Roubaix », dans Les Vieilles familles flamandes, p. 16, line 21.