I am in the process of entering some coins from the Republic of Florence in the 14th - 15th century which bear the following legend:
DET TIBI FLORERE XPS FLORENTIA VERE
I assume this legend is having fun with the name of the city (double entendre?) while also expressing something appropriate. From online translators, I gather that the first part (DET TIBI FLORERE) is something like "Grant that we may flourish", and the second part (FLORENTIA VERE) comes up as "spring flowers," and XPS is normally an abbreviation for Christ. So is this something like "Christ, grant that we may flourish like spring flowers" ??
Or is FLORENTIA VERE meant as "true Florence" and hence it would be "Christ, grant that the true Florence may flourish" ??