The text is derived from sections 1.10.32–3 of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Boundaries of Goods and Evils, or alternatively [About] The Purposes of Good and Evil).[3] The original passage began: Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit (Translation: "Neither is there anyone who loves pain itself since it is pain and thus wants to obtain it"). It is not known exactly when the text acquired its current standard form; it may have been as late as the 1960s. The source of the passage was discovered before 1982 by Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar who was the publications director at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, by searching for citings of the rarely used Latin word "consectetur" in classical literature.[1] [4] He has recently pointed out [5] that the physical source of the Lorem Ipsum text may be the Loeb Classical Library Edition (published in 1914) of the De Finibus, where the Latin text finishes page 134 with "Neque porro quisquam est qui do-" and begins page 136 with our text, "lorem ipsum (et seq.) ...," suggesting that the galley type of that page was scrambled to make the dummy text we recognize today. This suggests, but does not prove, that "lorem ipsum" may have been used as dummy text before the Letraset transfer sheets popularized it.

The text is derived from sections 1.10.32–3 of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Boundaries of Goods and Evils, or alternatively [About] The Purposes of Good and Evil).[3] The original passage began: Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit (Translation: "Neither is there anyone who loves pain itself since it is pain and thus wants to obtain it"). It is not known exactly when the text acquired its current standard form; it may have been as late as the 1960s. The source of the passage was discovered before 1982 by Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar who was the publications director at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, by searching for citings of the rarely used Latin word "consectetur" in classical literature.[1] [4] He has recently pointed out [5] that the physical source of the Lorem Ipsum text may be the Loeb Classical Library Edition (published in 1914) of the De Finibus, where the Latin text finishes page 134 with "Neque porro quisquam est qui do-" and begins page 136 with our text, "lorem ipsum (et seq.) ...," suggesting that the galley type of that page was scrambled to make the dummy text we recognize today. This suggests, but does not prove, that "lorem ipsum" may have been used as dummy text before the Letraset transfer sheets popularized it.