Bern Riddle 45: De terra
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Wed 02 Dec 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 45: De terra
Original text:
Os est mihi patens crebroque tunditur ictu;
Reddo libens omnes escas, quas sumpsero lambens.
Nulla mihi fames sitimque sentio nullam,
Et ieiuna mihi semper praecordia restant.
Omnibus ad escam miros efficio sapores
Gelidumque mihi durat per secula corpus.
Translation:
My mouth is open and frequently beaten;
I willingly return all the food that I have eaten up.
I feel no hunger nor thirst,
And yet my belly is always hungry.
I add amazing tastes to food for everyone
and my cold body lasts throughout the ages.
Earth
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 752.
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 591.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles