Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ter Pulsare Licet

This little poem is from Giuseppe Gatti's Sales Poetici, Proverbiales, et Iocosi, published in 1703.

Ter Pulsare Licet
Ter pulsare licet: si non aperitur, abito;
Vel sum, vel non sum, nolo vel esse domi.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are two words in this poem that are not on the DCC list:

pulsō, pulsāre: knock, beat
ter: three times

abeō -īre -iī -itum: go away
aperiō aperīre aperuī apertum: open
domus -ūs f.: house, home
licet licuit licitum est: it is permitted (+ dat. of person + infin.); conj. licet: even though
nōlō nōlle nōluī: be unwilling
nōn: not
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vel: or else, or; even; vel . . . vel: either… or