Homo in arbore suspenditur usque donec per curorem membra digesserit

ZenFox42

New Member

This is a personal project, I'm compiling all references to the ancient Celts. This comes from around the 9th century ACE, and is talking about a ritual the Celts used to appease one of their gods.

The two words "per curorem" are giving me a problem...I'm pretty sure I'm not getting the entire context of their use right.

The full sentence is : Homo in arbore suspenditur usque donec per curorem membra digesserit.

Reference : http://www.chronarchy.com/esus/lucan-commentaries.html
 

ZenFox42

New Member

I'm getting lots of views, but no responses, while virtually every other post has gotten at least one response. Why? Have I violated some board rule, or what?

If it helps, my literal translation is : A man is hanged on a tree until his limbs are dismembered by a cure/doctor.

It's the "per curorem" translation of "by a cure/doctor" that's giving me the problem. Any other possible interpretations?
 
 

Dantius

Homo Sapiens

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
in orbe lacteo
The word should be "cruorem," not "curorem." cruor means "blood," so the sense is like "until he is dismembered with a bunch of blood". Literally "until he divides his limbs" in the active, but that is a bit of a strange phrasing on the author's part.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
That sounds odd, as if the loss of blood were the cause of dismemberment—but it isn't, is it? Dantius's suggestion works better, though maybe it's too informal for your purposes. "With much loss of blood" is an option, or perhaps "in a bloody way" or some such.
 
 

cinefactus

Censor

  • Censor

  • Patronus

Location:
litore aureo
I took it as meaning that he thought that the blood was responsible for the limbs rotting.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
That could be right. After all, I'm not sure being suspended from a tree would cause much bleeding.
 

ZenFox42

New Member

My first mental image of the description "by blood" (per cruorem) was that the man in the tree is stabbed or cut, and that the blood loss eventually led to the dismemberment (but I would think that would take quite a long time...). OTOH, dismembering the limbs would create a lot of blood loss...but then why wasn't it phrased like that?
 
 

cinefactus

Censor

  • Censor

  • Patronus

Location:
litore aureo
L&S gives one of the meanings of digero as to dissolve or dissipate morbid matter.
 
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