Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sol, Sal, Salus

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 10.87:

Sol, Sal, Salus
Te sine nil video, sapio nil: tu meus es sol;
Solus tu meus es sal, mea sola salus.

To thee my Sight, my Tast hath sole relation;
Thou art my Sun, my Salt, my sole Salvation.

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

sal (salis, m.): salt, good sense, wit
sapiō, sapere: savor, be wise, understand

meus -a -um: my
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
salūs -ūtis f.: health, safety
sine: without (+ abl.)
sōl sōlis m.: sun
sōlus -a -um: only, alone; sōlum (adv.), only, merely
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
videō vidēre vīdī vīsum: see