Bern Riddle 8: De ovo
NEVILLEMOGFORD
Date: Fri 27 Nov 2020Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Bern Riddle 8: De ovo
Original text:
Nati mater ego, natus ab utero mecum;
Prior illo non sum, semper qui mihi coaevus.
Virgo nisi manens numquam concipere possum,
Sed intacta meam infra concipio prolem.
Post si mihi venter disruptus ictu patescat,
Moriens viventem sic possum fundere foetum.
Translation:
I am the mother of a son, born from a womb with me.
I am not older than him; he is always the same age as me.
I cannot ever become pregnant unless I remain a virgin,
but, virginal, I conceive my child within.
If my belly opens afterwards, burst by a stab,
dying, I can give birth to a living child.
Egg
Notes:
This edition is based on Karl Strecker, ed., Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Vol. 4.2 (Berlin, MGH/Weidmann, 1923), page 740.
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 554.
Tags: latin Bern Riddles