Saturday, April 23, 2011

Trahit, Ducit, Rapit

This poem is from a book published in 1624 by Jean Pignewart (Iohannes Pignevvart), a Cistercian monk and scholar. He attributes his collection of distich poetry to "Cato Bernardinus," invoking both the legendary "Cato" of Latin distich fame and also Saint Bernard of Clairveax who was famously associated with the Cistercian order.

Trahit, Ducit, Rapit
Attrahit hos, alios ducit, quosdamque Tonantis
Dextra rapit; raptus nemo redire cupit.

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

attrahō, attrahere: draw toward, pull, attract
Tonans (Tonantis, m.): Thunderer, Jupiter, god

alius -a -um: other, another; alias: at another time
cupiō -ere -īvī -ītum: desire
dexter -tra -trum: right; dextera -ae f.: right hand
dūcō dūcere dūxī ductum: lead; uxōrem dūcere, marry
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
nēmo: no one (gen. nullius, dat. nulli, abl. nullo or nulla > nullus -a -um)
quī- quae- quoddam: a certain one, someone
rapiō rapere rapuī raptum: seize, tear away
redeō -īre -iī -itum: go back, return
trahō trahere trāxī trāctum: drag, draw