Friday, May 6, 2011

Prius Exstirpa Malum

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

Prius Exstirpa Malum
Si vis virtutis cordi committere semen,
Hinc prius exstirpa, quod fuit ante malum.

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

exstirpō, exstirpāre: root out, extirpate
sēmen (sēminis, n.): seed

ante: before, in front of (adv. and prep. + acc.)
committō -mittere -mīsī -missum: join, entrust to (+ dat.); perform, do
cor cordis n.: heart; cordī est, it is pleasing to (+ dat.)
hīc: here; hinc: from here
malus -a -um: bad, evil; male: (adv.) badly
prior -ius: earlier, preceding; prius or priusquam: before
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
virtūs -ūtis f.: valor, manliness, virtue
volō velle voluī: wish, be willing