State mottoes are aspirational words, but you might need a translator for some. Twenty state mottoes are in Latin, and there are mottoes in French, Spanish, Italian, Hawaiian and Chinook, a language indigenous to Washington state, according to Forbes. One is in Greek but has a familiar ring: “Eureka,” the California motto. It means “I have found it” and is said to have been uttered by the mathematician and philosopher Archimedes while he was studying the properties of gold. Massachusetts adopted its motto, “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem” (“By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”), in 1775, but others didn’t have a motto until the 20th century, like Arkansas’ “The People Rule,” adopted in 1907.
Sources: USA Today and Forbes.