What Does Lorem Ipsum Mean? (History of Dummy Text)

When creating website mockups or design drafts, you've likely seen the meaningless text used to fill spaces where content isn't ready yet.

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit..."

What language is this, and what does it mean?

1. Traces of Ancient Latin

To cut to the chase, it is Latin. However, it's not grammatically perfect sentences; words have been altered or truncated.

The source text comes from "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (On the Ends of Good and Evil), a book on ethics written by the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero in 45 BC.

2. Meaning of the Original Text

The original passage reads:

"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."

Translated:

"There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..."

The bolded words were combined to create the modern "Lorem ipsum...".

3. Why This Text?

It is believed to have originated in the 1500s when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

Why use meaningless text?

Because when people can read the text, they focus on the Content and miss the Design.

If it says "Headline goes here," people read the sentence. But with "Lorem ipsum...", they ignore the words and focus solely on the font and layout.

Conclusion

Lorem Ipsum is not just filler text; it is a historical legacy where the wisdom of a 2000-year-old philosopher met the pragmatism of a 500-year-old printer.

Isn't it ironic and amusing that Cicero's insights on pleasure and pain are now used to layout modern websites?