Bern Riddle 39: De hedera
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Sat 28 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 39: De hedera
Original text:
Arbor mihi pater, nam et lapidea mater;
Corpore nam mollis duros disrumpo parentes.
Aestas me nec ulla, ulla nec frigora vincunt,
Bruma color unus vernoque simul et aesto.
Propriis erecta vetor consistere plantis,
Manibus sed alta peto cacumina tortis.
Translation:
My father is a tree, and my mother is rocky;
soft-bodied, I break up my hard parents.
Summer’s heat and winter’s cold do not destroy me,
and I have the same colour in winter, spring, and summer.
Upright, I am not allowed to stand on my feet,
but I seek high summits with twisted hands.
Ivy
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 750.
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 585.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles