A Cool Latin Palindrome
Nothing like a cool Latin palindrome to make your day, eh? I love this one about moths. It goes:in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Which translates into the haunting English words:
"We enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire."
And speaking of Latin, do check out our show this week. It's all about Latin -- with lots of laughs besides.
posted by Martha at 8:42 PM
6 Comments:
That's a cool Latin palindrome. I'm curious: Do you know its pedigree?
Daz, I can't recall where I saw that one, alas. But yeah, I think it's cool (though I suppose the moths don't).
Don't worry, Martha -- moths have very little aptitude for Latin.
On the web, several pages of unknown authority said this palindrome comes from the (ancient) Romans. And pointed out that it's a riddle, which had escaped me.
(Come to think of it, this behavior by nocturnal lepidopterans both disproves both Darwinism -- since such self-destructive behavior would've been bred out eons ago -- and Intelligent Design, since what intellgent designer would invent an animal that self-destructs so readily?)
Hmmm, Daz, I'm not sure that such lepidopteran behavior rules out evolution. Perhaps the reason they do that is invisible to us. Or maybe it should just be filed under "stoopid mistakes" (or "stoopid insect tricks"?)
From a brazilian word fun:
Martha, I've been lisntening your show by podcast since may,2005, and I love it. I'm sending you a beautiful and big portuguese palindrome for your collection:"SOCORRAM ME SUBI NO ONIBUS EM MARROCOS", that stands as (HELP ME I TOOK A BUS ON MARROCOS). Isn't it beautiful?
Thanks,
Julio Baldin
Tudo bem, Julio! Joia bonita! Muito obrigada de Martita.
That's a great one - thanks for including it. I was not familiar with that one. Thanks also for your kind words about the show. (And don't forget to feel free to share them with iTunes as well! :-)
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