Saturday, June 18, 2011

Amici Paucissimi

Here is a distich by Michele Verinus:

Amici Paucissimi
Millibus ex multis unus vix fidus amicus;
Hic albo corvo rarior esse solet.

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

corvus (corvi, m.): crow, raven
fīdus, -a, -um: faithful, loyal

albus -a -um: white
amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
ex ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
mille (pl.) milia: thousand
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
paucī -ae -a: few
rarus -a -um: wide apart, loose, thin; rare, seldom
soleō -ēre -uī -itum: be accustomed
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
ūnus -a -um: one
vix: scarcely