Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Quid Copia Rerum?

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

Quid Copia Rerum?
Dic, homo, vas cinerum, quid confert flos facierum,
Copia quid rerum? Mors ultima linea rerum.

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

līnea (līneae, f.): line
vas (vasis, n.): vessel, dish, container

cinis cineris m./f.: ashes, embers
cōnferō -ferre -tulī -lātum: collect, bring to
cōpia -ae f.: abundance; (pl.) troops
dīcō dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
faciēs -ēī f.: form, appearance
flōs flōris m.: flower, bloom
homo hominis m.: human being
mors mortis f.: death
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
ūltimus -a -um: farthest, final, last, ultimate