Nec pluribus impar is a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 motto

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

 adopted by Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

 from 1658. It was often inscribed together with the symbol of the "Sun King": a head within rays of sunlight.

Meaning

While the motto relates to the allegory

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

 of the "Sun King", its precise meaning is obscure. Philip F. Riley calls it "almost untranslatable". Historian Henri Martin called it "very pompous and, above all, obscure and perplexing". Louvois

François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois

François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois was the French Secretary of State for War for a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV. Louvois and his father, Michel le Tellier, would increase the French Army to 400,000 soldiers, an army that would fight four wars between 1667 and 1713...

, Louis' War Secretary

Secretary of State for War (France)

The Secretary of State for War was one of the four or five specialized secretaries of state in France during the Ancien Régime. The position was responsible for the Army and for overseeing French border provinces...

, interpreted it as seul contre tous — "alone against all"; lexicographer Pierre Larousse

Pierre Larousse

Pierre Athanase Larousse was a French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopaedist. He published many of the outstanding educational and reference works of 19th-century France, including the 15 volume Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle.-Early life:Pierre Larousse was born in Toucy, where...

 suggested au-dessus de tous (comme le soleil) — "above all (like the sun)". John Martin says "[Louis'] matchless
splendour was expressed by the motto Nec Pluribus Impar - not unequal to many
suns.". Yves-Marie Bercé gives Suffisant (seul) a tant de choses ("Sufficient (alone) for so many things") or Tout lui est possible ("Everything is possible for him"). Louis himself wrote:

Origin and use

The first use of the motto and symbol is usually given as the great Carrousel of 1662, in what is now the Place du Carrousel

Place du Carrousel

The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre museum, a space occupied, prior to 1871, by the Tuileries Palace...

, to celebrate the birth of his son Louis, the Dauphin. However, the motto appeared as early as 1658 on a medal

Medal

A medal, or medallion, is generally a circular object that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way rendered with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific,...

. Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

 attributes the motto and emblem to Louis Douvier, who derived them from a device of Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

, of whom it was said the sun never set on his dominions

The empire on which the sun never sets

The phrase, "the Empire on which the sun never sets", has been used with variations to describe certain global empires that were so extensive that there was always at least one part of their territory in daylight....

. Polemicists in the Spanish Netherlands pointed out the unoriginal nature of the symbol. Louis XIV himself was not enamoured of them, but they proved popular with the public and so he tolerated them.

The motto and sun-king device appeared on many buildings, as well as on cannons. The classical de Vallière guns in particular bear the motto and the symbol, even for those founded long after Louis XIV's death.

Many of Louis' subordinates adopted emblems and mottos playing off those of the sovereign. César de Beaufort, Admiral of France

Admiral of France

The title Admiral of France is one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, the naval equivalent of Marshal of France.The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, during the Eighth Crusade. At the time it was equivalent to the office of Constable of France. The Admiral was responsible...

, adopted a moon with motto Elle obéit au soleil et commande aux flots ("It obeys the sun and commands the seas"); Duc de Sully adopted a burning-mirror

Burning-glass

A burning glass or burning lens is a large convex lens that can concentrate the sun's rays onto a small area, heating up the area and thus resulting in ignition of the exposed surface. Burning mirrors achieve a similar effect by using reflecting surfaces to focus the light...

 with motto Je brûle sous son regard ("I burn [under its gaze / at his command])".

It is the motto of Ribét Academy

Ribet Academy

Ribét Academy College Preparatory is a private independent boarding school for boys and girls from pre-school through twelfth grade located in Los Angeles, California...

, a private preparatory school

University-preparatory school

A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, and the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment

1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment

The 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment is the only armoured cavalry regiment in the French Foreign Legion. It is one of two cavalry regiments of the 6th Light Armoured Brigade....

 of the 6th light armored brigade

Brigade

A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

 of the French Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

.