Friday, May 6, 2011

Via Lata ad Orcum

This little poem is from Giuseppe Gatti's Sales Poetici, Proverbiales, et Iocosi, published in 1703.

Via Lata ad Orcum
Arcta via in caelum; lata est, quae ducit ad Orcum:
Illa nimis longa est; est nimis ista brevis.

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

arctus, -a, -um: close, tight, strict
Orcus (Orcī, m.): Orcus, land of the dead

ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
brevis -e: short, shallow, brief; adv. breviter
caelum -ī n.: sky, heavens
dūcō dūcere dūxī ductum: lead; uxōrem dūcere, marry
ille illa illud: that
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
iste ista istud: that, that of yours; adv. istīc or istūc: over there; istinc: from over there
lātus -a -um: broad, wide
longus -a -um: long, far; longē: far, far off
nimius -a -um: too much, excessive; nimis or nimium: excessively
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
via -ae f.: way, street