Talk:Qui facit per alium facit per se

Question about latin meaning: "Qui facit per alium, facet per se."

Discrepancy: In doing a little background research on this phrase, I found that a latin to english dictionary made this particular distinction about the word "alium." There are two words in latin that are spelled closely: alium and alius. The distinction between the two substantially affects the meaning of this phrase. "ALIUM" translates to "garlic" in English; whereas "ALIUS" means "another." Although the phrase at the title of this entry is quoted and requoted all over the internet using alium, this appears to be wrong, unless there is a Latin idiom where these two words can be used interchangeably. In the meaning "who acts through others, acts of himself," the word alius would be the correct latin usage. In other words, the correct latin phrase appears to be "qui facit per alius, facet per se." I am not expert in Latin, but this seems to be credible in that I recently read the phrase in a book written by an astute medical doctor in 1848, who was well versed in Latin, where he quoted it using alias instead of alium. I'd be interested in a true clarification of this point.

Giometer (talk) 15:36, 25 March 2020 (UTC)Giometer

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