To God Alone the Glory -- Latin translation

by Donna C
(Fort Worth, TX)

At one point I thought it was: Sola Deo Gloria

Much later, I found another that said it needed to be: Soli Deo Gloria

I never had a chance to ask a "real person" -- only used online translators, or just happened upon it online.

I'd really like to have a definitive and correct translation of "to God Alone the Glory."

Thank you so much for your help and a wonderful website! Have enjoyed perusing the Latin sections. :)


Hi, Donna, and thanks for a great question.

The correct form of this Latin phrase is Soli Deo Gloria. The reason is that the word alone must agree with the word God in case, gender, and number. Soli and Deo are both dative, masculine, and singular.

In your first phrase, using sola makes the word alone agree with gloria, and so means "Glory alone to God" - As though nothing else were to God but glory!

Using soli, it means we give glory to no one but God.

Thanks again for asking a Latin teacher!

Sincerely,

John

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