Tuesday, May 22, 2012

De Morte

This is one of the Latin epigrams of the Renaissance scholar and Catholic saint, Sir Thomas More.

Nudus ut in terram veni, sic nudus abibo:
Quid frustra sudo, funera nuda videns?


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:

sūdo, -āre - sweat, perspire, toil

abeo -īre -iī -itum: go away
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
frūstrā: in vain
fūnus, funeris n.: funeral; death; dead body
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
mors mortis f.: death
nūdus -a -um: naked, bare
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut, in the same way as
terra -ae f.: land
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)
venio -īre vēnī ventum: come
video -ēre vīdī vīsum: see