Seal of New York City Seal of New York City The seal of New York City, designed in 1915 and adapted from an earlier form dating back in 1686, bears the legend which means simply "The Seal of the City of New York": "Eboracum" was the Roman name for York in Latin, the titular seat of James II as Duke of York. York was founded by the Romans in 70 AD. The two supporters represent the unity between Native Americans and colonists: dexter, a sailor colonist holds a plummet—a navigational tool—in his right hand, while over his right shoulder is a cross-staff; sinister, a Lenape
Latin influence in English tribes, who would later give rise to the English language (the Angles, Saxon and Jutes) traded and fought with the Latin speaking Roman Empire. Many words (some originally from Greek) for common objects therefore entered the vocabulary of these Germanic people via Latin even before the tribes reached Britain (what is known as the Continental or Zero Period): "anchor", "butter", "camp", "cheese", "chest", "cook", "copper", "devil", "dish", "fork", "gem", "inch", "kitchen", "mile", "mill", "mint" (coin), "noon", "pillow", "pound" (unit of weight), "punt" (boat), "sack", "street", "wall", "wine". Cognates of virtually all of these English words exist in the other Germanic