Agency Dictionary

eppur si muove

otherPronunciation: /epˈpur si ˈmwɔːve/

What does “eppur si muove” mean?

An Italian phrase meaning and yet it moves. It is used to affirm that a fact remains true no matter who denies it.

Etymology

An Italian sentence: eppure, also written e pur, means "and yet", and si muove is the reflexive present of muovere ("to move"), from Latin movere. Tradition says Galileo Galilei spoke it in 1633, after being made to deny that the Earth moves around the Sun. No record of the trial and no early biography of Galileo contains it. The earliest known account in print is from 1757, in a book by Giuseppe Baretti published in London, and historians generally treat the story as a legend.

Usage note

Quoted in Italian, usually in italics, in either spelling: eppur si muove or e pur si muove. The standard English version is "and yet it moves".

Usage examples

Eppur si muove.
Writing.2 - Aphorisms

Source editions

Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.

Writing.2 - AphorismsSeptember 21, 2023Read the edition

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