Friday, July 20, 2012

Vanitas Vanitatum


428     -     429     -     430


This is a poem from Melchior Sylvester Eckhard's Epigrammata, published in 1629; you can read the book online.

Vanitas Vanitatum
Omnia sub toto cum sint vanissima caelo,
In caelum e terris instituamus iter.


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:

vānitas (vānitātis, f.): emptiness, empty pride

caelum -ī n.: sky, heavens
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
ex ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
īnstituō -stituere -stituī -stitūtum: undertake; equip
iter itineris n.: journey, route
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
sub: under, close to (+acc. or abl.)
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
terra -ae f.: land
tōtus -a -um: whole, entire
vanus -a -um: empty; false, deceitful