Sunday, April 22, 2012

Scripsi, rescripsit nil...

Here is today's distich by Martial, 2.9:

Scripsi, rescripsit nil Naevia, non dabit ergo;
Sed puto quod scripsi legerat: ergo dabit.


I wrote, she wrote not back; so won't fulfil;
Yet, what I wrote, she read; and therefore will.
- Elphinston

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

Naevia - proper name
rēscrībo -ere, rēscrīpsī, rēscrīptum - write in reply, answer, write anew

sed: but
do dare dedī datum: give
nōn: not
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
lego legere lēgī lēctum: gather, choose, read
ergo: therefore
puto -āre: think, suppose
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
scrībo -ere scrīpsī scrīptum: write