Friday, February 24, 2012
Rustici Sunt
Rustici Sunt
Rusticus est vere, dicens mala de muliere:
Nam scimus vere, sumus omnes de muliere.
Source: Philosophia Patrum (ed. Wegeler), 1153. Meter: Dactylic Hexameter. Note the rhyme: vere-muliere. In addition to the rhyme, this one features a nice play on the multiple meanings of the preposition de, which hear means "about a woman" and also "from a woman." For those who are interested in meter, note that while the hexameter form here is otherwise correct, the poet assumes a long e under stress in muliēre. I found this poem in the collection Philosophia Patrum edited by Julius Wegeler.
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word not on that list:
Someone speaking badly (dicens mala) about a woman (de muliere) is a doofus for sure (rusticus est vere) because we all know for sure (nam scimus vere) that we all come (sumus comnes) from a woman (de muliere).
rusticus, -a, -um: of the country, rural, uncouth
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
dīco dīcere dīxī dictum: say
malus -a -um: evil
mulier -eris f.: woman
nam: for, indeed, really
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
rusticus -a -um: of the country, rural
scio -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vērus -a -um: true; vērē, truly
