Monday, April 18, 2011

Quid Sum?

This is one of the riddles from Wilhelm Binder's Flores Aenigmatum Latinorum (1857): LVX.

Quid Sum?
Filia sum solis, quae sum cum sole creata;
Sum decies quinque, sum quinque, decemque vocata.

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

deciēs: ten times
quinque: five

creō -āre: produce, create; elect, choose
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
decem: ten
filia -ae f.; filius -ī m.: daughter; son
lūx lūcis f.: light of day
que (enclitic) - and
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sōl sōlis m.: sun
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vocō -āre: call