The placeholder text, beginning with the line \u201cLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit\u201d<\/em>, looks like Latin because in its youth, centuries ago, it was Latin.<\/p>\n

Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar from Hampden-Sydney College, is credited with discovering the source behind the ubiquitous filler text. In seeing a sample of lorem ipsum<\/em>, his interest was piqued by consectetur<\/em>\u2014a genuine, albeit rare, Latin word. Consulting a Latin dictionary led McClintock to a passage from De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum<\/em> (\u201cOn the Extremes of Good and Evil\u201d), a first-century B.C. text from the Roman philosopher Cicero.<\/p>\n

In particular, the garbled words of lorem ipsum<\/em> bear an unmistakable resemblance to sections 1.10.32\u201333 of Cicero’s work, with the most notable passage excerpted below:<\/p>\n

\u201cNeque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum<\/em> quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed<\/em> quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A 1914 English translation by Harris Rackham reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cNor is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McClintock’s eye for detail certainly helped narrow the whereabouts of lorem ipsum’s<\/em> origin, however, the \u201chow and when\u201d still remain something of a mystery, with competing theories and timelines.<\/p>\n

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