Bern Riddle 34: De rosa
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Sat 28 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 34: De rosa
Original text:
Puchram in angusto me mater concipit alvo
Et hirsuta barbis quinque conplectitur ulnis.
Quae licet parentum parvo sim genere sumpta,
Honor quoque mihi concessus fertur ubique.
Utero cum nascor, matri rependo decorem
Et parturienti nullum infligo dolorem.
Translation:
My mother bears me, beautiful, in a narrow womb,
and, hairy-bearded, she embraces me with five arms.
Although I belong to the humble family of my parents,
I am also honoured everywhere.
When I am born from the womb, I repay my mother with beauty
but not the pain of childbirth.
Rose
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 749.
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 580.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles