Bern Riddle 53: De trutina
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Thu 03 Dec 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 53: De trutina
Original text:
Venter mihi nullus, infra praecordia nulla,
Tenui nam semper feror in corpore sicca.
Cibum nulli quaero, ciborum milia servans.
Loco currens uno lucrum ac confero damnum.
Duo mihi membra tantum in corpore pendunt,
Similemque gerunt caput et planta figuram.
Translation:
I have no belly and no guts inside,
for when dry, I am always carried in a thin body.
When storing a thousand kinds of food, I ask no one for food.
When running in one place, I grant profit and loss.
Only two limbs hang on my body,
and my head and feet have the same form.
Scales (?)
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 755.
The putative title ("De trutina") and line 1 follow Fr. Glorie, ed., Variae collectiones aenigmatum Merovingicae aetatis, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 133A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1968), page 600.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles