Seal of New York City be duplicated across city departments as an official symbol. With the exception of changing the year from 1664 to 1625, the official seal has remained in use ever since. An alternate version of the seal, without the Latin legend, is found on the city flag. 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
Latin influence in English text in Latin, the prevalent Medieval lingua franca of Europe. However, when monks occasionally wrote in the vernacular, Latin words were translated by finding suitable Old English equivalents. Often, a Germanic word was adopted and given a new shade of meaning in the process. Such was the case with Old English "gōdspell" ("gospel") for Latin "evangelium". Previously, the Old English word simply meant "good news," but its meaning was extended in Old English to fit a religious context. The same occurred for the Old Germanic pagan word "blētsian", which meant "to sacrifice, consecrate by shedding blood". It was adapted by