Happy New Year in Latin (+ Ancient Roman New Year Customs!)
In ancient Rome, people celebrated the coming of a new year with joy. I will teach you how to wish your loved ones a happy new year in Latin – just like an ancient Roman would have done!
The standard way to say “Happy New Year” in Latin is annum novum faustum felicem. This exact phrasing was used around 2000 years ago, so you really can talk like an ancient Roman.
Keep reading to learn how to customize this greeting to your specific circumstances. We will also cover ancient Roman New Year’s customs and some New Year-themed Latin vocabulary!
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How To Say Happy New Year in Latin
The most authentic way to wish someone a happy new year in Latin is to use the following phrase: Annum novum faustum felicem.
This literally means “A fortunate, happy new year”. The phrase is in the accusative case, since it is the direct object of an implied verb of wishing (exoptō, precor, etc.).
The great thing about this version is that it works in any possible context. There is no speaker or recipient specified, so it doesn’t matter how many people you are speaking to or how many people you are speaking on behalf of.
But what if you want to write out the full sentence? What if you want to customize your Latin New Year’s greeting?
The most basic version of the full sentence looks like this:
Annum novum faustum fēlīcem tibi exoptō. = I wish you a fortunate, happy new year.
Now here’s where things get a tad complicated. This version only works if you are one person wishing one loved one a happy new year.
If you are addressing two or more people, you need to use the plural form of “you”.
Annum novum faustum fēlīcem vōbīs exoptō. = I wish you (all) a fortunate, happy new year.
Vōbīs is the 2nd person plural personal pronoun, while tibi is the 2nd person singular form.
How about if you are writing on behalf of your entire family? Then you would want to say that we wish you a happy new year.
Annum novum faustum fēlīcem tibi / vōbīs exoptāmus. = We wish you / y’all a fortunate, happy new year.
If you are familiar with basic Latin grammar, you can modify things further to suit your particular situation. The person wishing (the subject) is in the nominative case, while the recipient of the wishes is in the dative.
Let’s say that my husband’s name is Marius and that we are writing to our friend and her sisters. We could put:
Ego et Marius annum novum faustum fēlīcem tibi et sorōribus tuīs exoptāmus. = Marius and I wish you and your sisters a fortunate, happy new year.
It can be fun to play around with the specific language, but don’t worry. If you don’t know any Latin, or if you are a beginning student, it is always correct to say Annum novum faustum felicem in ANY circumstance.
NOTE: The little lines that appear over some vowels are called macrons. They are pronunciation aids for modern students, but you don’t need to include them when writing New Year’s cards.
Now if you are wondering how we know this is the way ancient Romans conveyed their New Year’s greetings, keep reading!
👉 Interested in learning Latin? Check out my favorite resources (both free and paid)!
New Year’s Greetings From Ancient Rome
In the late 140s C.E., Roman grammarian Marcus Cornelius Fronto corresponded with the future emperor Marcus Aurelius, his former pupil. His letters include the following snippet:
Annum novum faustum tibi et ad omnia, quae rēctē cupis, prosperum cum tibi tum dominō nostrō patrī tuō et mātrī et uxōrī et fīliae cēterīsque omnibus, quōs meritō dīligis, precor.
I wish a fortunate new year to you, and a prosperous one for all things which you rightly desire; [I wish it] both for you and for our master, your father, and for your mother and wife and daughter and all others, whom you rightfully esteem.
Fronto Ad Caesarem 5.45
Fronto uses part of the set phrase and then elaborates on it, adding another adjective (prosperum) to his description of the ideal new year.
But it’s not just ancient texts that preserve New Year’s wishes in Latin. We also find New Year’s greetings on terracotta oil lamps, which were likely given as gifts.
Consider the following lamp, which dates to the 2nd half of the 1st century C.E. and is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The winged goddess of Victory holds out a shield inscribed with a New Year’s wish: ANNV NOVM FAVSTUM FELICEM MIHI. This is a slightly abbreviated version of annum novum faustum felicem mihi, “a fortunate, happy new year to me”.
Around the goddess are figs, dates, and coins, all of which are popular Roman New Year’s gifts (as we will discuss more below).
Similar lamps have been found all over the Roman world, from Italy to Egypt to Jordan. They are proof that people having been wishing each other Happy New Year in Latin for millennia!
Ancient Roman New Year’s Customs
January 1 was a significant day for the ancient Romans. The two-faced god Janus presided over the new year, just as he presided over all transitions. His faces looked into the future and the past, into the new year and the old.
Priests made sacrifices and vows on behalf of the welfare of the Roman state. Religion and politics blended together, as was typical in ancient Rome. January 1 was when public officials took office, so a new governmental year began along with the calendrical year.
The new year also mattered on a personal level in the lives of individual Romans.
Romans took care to say auspicious and joyful words on New Year’s Day. They were big believers in omens, so they thought that the first day set the tone for the entire year. No arguments or cursing or doom and gloom!
It’s rather like how in the southern United States, we eat black-eyed peas for health and collard greens for wealth on New Year’s Day. The idea is that we will then be healthy and wealthy throughout the new year.
(I’ve never liked collard greens, which is maybe why I’m not a millionaire yet. Oh well.)
In addition to speaking positive words, Romans exchanged small gifts with their loved ones on New Year’s. Common choices were sweet snacks such as dates, figs, honey, and small cakes.
Bronze coins could also be given as gifts. Especially popular were older Republican coins featuring the head(s) of Janus on one side and the prow of a ship on the other. This coin in the American Numismatic Society’s collection serves as a good example.
The Roman poet Ovid (active in the late 1st century B.C.E. and the early 1st century C.E.) explains the rationale behind these presents. In his Fasti, a poem about the calendar, the poet imagines a conversation between himself and Janus:
‘What,’ I said, ‘is the meaning of the dates and the wrinkled figs, and the gift of shining honey in a snow-white jar?’
‘The omen is the reason,’ says Janus, ‘so that that flavour may follow what ensues, and the year continue sweet on the journey it has begun.’
‘I see why sweet things are given. Add the reason for giving coins, so that no part of your festival may be uncertain for me.’
He laughed. ‘How wrong you are,’ he said, ‘about the age you live in, if you think honey is sweeter than cash in hand! Even under Saturn’s reign I saw hardly anyone to whose heart profit wasn’t sweet.’
Ovid, Fasti 1.175-192, trans. Anne and Peter Wiseman
So if you want to give someone a truly Roman gift, send some sweet food and bronze coins along with your New Year’s card!
Terracotta lamps like the one I discussed above were also popular New Year’s presents. Take another look at the lamp, and you will see bronze coins, dates, and dried figs surrounding the new year’s message.
Final Thoughts on the Ancient Roman New Year
Now that you know how to say happy new year in Latin, you can surprise your family and friends with your new knowledge! Or maybe you can write a fabulous card for your Latin teacher.
If they are Christian, be sure to include Christmas wishes in Latin, as well!
Here are some other words and phrases that may be helpful during the holiday season:
- strēna, ae – sign, omen; New Year’s present
- dactylus, ī – date (fruit)
- fīcus, ī, f. – fig
- mel, mellis, n. – honey
- as, assis, m. – an as (a small Roman bronze coin)
- vigilia annī novī – New Year’s Eve
- fēlīcem vigiliam annī novī – Happy New Year’s Eve
I am in awe of the fact that we, as humans, have been welcoming the new year with joy and hope for thousands of years. Annum novum faustum fēlīcem vōbīs omnibus!
And now . . . while sending New Year’s wishes in Latin may be rare these days, the Latin language is still very much alive. I guarantee that you have encountered lots of Latin in your everyday life (even if you don’t realize it). See how many of these common Latin abbreviations are familiar to you!
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