Saturday, July 30, 2011

Aenigma: Quid Sum?

This is one of the riddles collected by Nikolaus Reusner, which you can read online at the University of Mannheim.

Aenigma: Quid Sum?
Blanditiae pater et sum filius ipse doloris:
Qui tenet hoc, metuit; qui caret, ille dolet.

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

aenigma (aenigmatis, n.): riddle, enigma
blanditia (blanditiae, f.): flattery, charm

aurum -ī n.: gold
careō -ēre -uī: lack (+ abl.)
doleō -ēre doluī: feel pain or grief, grieve
dolor -ōris m.: pain, grief
et: and
filia -ae f.; filius -ī m.: daughter; son
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
ille illa illud: that
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
metuō metuere metuī: to fear, to dread
pater patris m.: father, ancestor
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
teneō -ēre -uī tentum: hold