Saturday, July 30, 2011

Munerum Virtus Magnetica

This is a poem from Melchior Sylvester Eckhard's Epigrammata, published in 1629; you can read the book online.

Munerum Virtus Magnetica
Est in muneribus plus quam magnetica virtus,
Ferrum namque trahunt duraque saxa movent.

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

magnēticus, -a, -um: magnetic
namque: for indeed, truly

dūrus -a -um: hard, tough, harsh
ferrum -ī n.: iron, iron weapon or implement
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
moveō -ēre mōvī mōtum: move
mūnus mūneris n.: gift, offering
plūs plūris n.: a greater amount or number, more
quam: how?; (after comparative) than
que (enclitic) - and
saxum -ī n.: rock, cliff, crag
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
trahō trahere trāxī trāctum: drag, draw
virtūs -ūtis f.: valor, manliness, virtue