Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ad Quendam Libros Habentem

This is a poem by John Dunbar (c. 1585 - 1626), a Scottish neo-Latin poet. You can read more about Dunbar at Dana Sutton's online edition of Dunbar's epigrammatic poetry.

Ad Quendam Libros Habentem
Quod multos habeas libros, vis doctus haberi;
Sic etiam est doctus bibliopola, sapis?

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

bibliopōla (bibliopōlae, m.): bookseller
sapiō, sapere: savor, be wise, understand

ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
doceō -ēre -uī doctum: teach
etiam: also, even
habeō habēre habuī habitum: have, hold
liber librī m.: book
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
quī- quae- quoddam: a certain one, someone
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
volō velle voluī: wish, be willing