Hendiatris

Figure of speech using three words for one idea

Hendiatris (/h//ɛ//n/'/d//aɪ//.//ə//t//ɹ//ɪ//s/ henDYətriss; ) is a figure of speech used for emphasis, in which three words are used to express one idea. The phrases "sun, sea and sand", and "wine, women and song" are examples. A tripartite motto is the conventional English term for a motto, a slogan, or an advertising phrase in the form of a hendiatris. Some well known examples are the formula "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" from the United States Declaration of Independence, Jesus Christ's Via, Veritas, Vita and Julius Caesar's Veni, vidi, vici (examples of a tricolon); and the motto of the French Republic: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; the phrase peace, order and good government is used as a guiding principle in the parliaments of the Commonwealth of Nations.

From the 18th century, the tripartite motto was primarily political. John Locke's Life, Liberty, and Property was adapted by Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the United States Declaration of Independence into Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which has become the American equivalent of the French triad listed above. The initial Carlist motto was God, Country, King. The dominant ideology of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia was frequently expressed in the tripartite motto, "Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality" (правосла́вие, самодержа́вие, наро́дность). The University of North Carolina's Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies maintain such tripartite mottos as well. The Philanthropic Society's motto is Virtus, Libertas, et Scientia "Virtue, Liberty, and Knowledge" and the Joint Senate motto is Ad Virtutem, Libertatem, Scientiamque "Toward Virtue, Liberty, and Knowledge".