Bern Riddle 2: De lucerna
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Thu 26 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 2: De lucerna
Original text:
Me mater novellam vetus de germine finxit
Et in nullo patris formata sumo figuram.
Oculi non mihi lumen ostendere possunt,
Patulo sed flammas ore produco coruscas.
Nolo me contingat imber nec flamina venti.
Sum amica lucis, domi delector in umbras.
Translation:
My old mother formed me fresh from a seed,
and when born, I take a form unlike my father.
Eyes cannot show me the light,
but I produce trembling flames from an open mouth.
I do not wish to meet with the rain or a blast of wind.
I am a friend of light, most pleasing in the shadows at home.
Lamp
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 738.
A list of variant readings can be found in Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 548.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles