Tuesday, June 12, 2012

De nato et passo Christo

This is from the enormous anthology of distich poetry assembled by Barthold Nihus, Epigrammata Disticha, published in 1642; the poem is by Bernardus Bauhusius.

O nati Christi bona nox! O lux mala passi!
Lux mala luce carens! nox bona nocte carens!

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

Christus, m. - Christ

bonus -a -um: good
careō -ēre -uī: lack (+ abl.)
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
et: and
lūx lūcis f.: light of day
malus -a -um: bad, evil; male: (adv.) badly
nāscor nāscī nātus sum: be born
nox noctis f.: night
patior patī passus sum: permit, endure