A new interpretation of Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion suggests that we’ve been misreading it for nearly 300 years due to a mistranslation of a single Latin word, quatenus, meaning insofar rather than unless.

Axar.az reports that according to the Science Alert, Virginia Tech philosopher Daniel Hoek argues that this misinterpretation has led to the widespread belief that Newton’s first law describes objects moving in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.

Instead, Hoek claims that Newton was actually stating that all changes in motion—every acceleration, deceleration, or directional shift—are due to external forces.

While this reinterpretation does not change the physics of motion, it better aligns with Newton’s original intent, emphasizing that forces are always at work and that his laws apply universally, from spinning tops to planetary orbits. Hoek’s argument, though compelling, has faced resistance due to centuries of repetition of the traditional translation. His findings were published in the journal Philosophy of Science.