I have now received four very helpful and informative private answers to my query (from James Butrica, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Patrick Roper, and Ioana Milonescu). Many thanks to you all, and that's enough!
it's rather unlikely (I gather) that the NSW motto, "Orta recens quam pura nites", refers to the moon. Alternatives offered are patria, provincia, terra, and Maria, the last from Patrick Roper, who suggests that the composer of the motto, whoever he was, may have been influenced by the Jesuit Renaissance poet Jacob Balde, who used 'orta' and 'pura nites' in his 'Poemata' in praise of the BVM. The motto is certainly not classical Latin, but it does seem to be part of a hexameter. Perhaps a source may yet be found, but it won't be by me! An afterthought: perhaps after all the feminine singular noun we're all looking for is _colonia_. New South Wales was a "colony" before it became a state in the Australian Commonwealth. Simon Cauchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
