Jesu Dulcis Memoria hymn

[CMatthiasT88]

Crux fidelis inter omnes
Arbor una nobilis
Nulla silva talem profert
Fronde, flore, germine
Dulce lignum dulce clavos
Dulce pondus sustinet.- Hymn Crux Fidelis intro/refrain verse.

Thank you, does talem refer to Arbor? And if so would fronde...germine be ablatives of instrument?

 

[cinefactus]

Arbor
I would have taken them as accompaniment.

 

[Pacifica]

Or respect/specification?

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Would you be able to explain that further, madam?

 

[Pacifica]

My first reading of nulla silva talem profert / fronde, flore, germine was "no forest produces any such in foliage, flower or shoot", with fronde, flore, germine as ablatives of respects/specification modifying talem (specifying in what respect it was "such"). But then you and Cinefactus made me doubt.

 

[cinefactus]

No you are right. I was looking down the list and missed that one.

 

[CMatthiasT88]

My first reading of nulla silva talem profert / fronde, flore, germine was "no forest produces any such in foliage, flower or shoot", with fronde, flore, germine as ablatives of respects/specification modifying talem (specifying in what respect it was "such")

Thank you, that's what I thought you meant. You said that you now have doubts, but the problem that I see with your idea is that the cross itself has no foliage, flower, etc..

 

[Pacifica]

the problem that I see with your idea is that the cross itself has no foliage, flower, etc.

Yes, that occurred to me too. But I suppose it could be figurative. Otherwise you guys' interpretations also seem possible—i.e. something along the lines of "no forest produces such a tree with (or by means of) foliage, etc."

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Sola [crux] digna tu fuisti
Ferre mundi victimam
Atque portum praeparare
Arca mundo naufrago
Quam sacer cruor perunxit
Fusus Agni corpore. - Id. verse 9

Thank you, wanting to check that Arca would be in the ablative here (of means). "You alone were worthy...to prepare a haven for the wrecked world with a ship."

 

[cinefactus]

I would have said nominative. An ark for a shipwrecked world

 

[CMatthiasT88]

Thank you, by the way, any idea what form of verse this is?

 

[Pacifica]

I would have said nominative. An ark for a shipwrecked world

It's a little weird, isn't it? Because you'd expect mundo naufrago to be the indirect object of praeparare, but then if arca is nominative, how does an ark prepare a harbor? If it's as you say and mundo naufrago only goes with arca, portum praeparare feels a little bare without an indirect object. To confuse matters further, some versions I've found online have nauta instead of arca... Ah, well...

Thank you, by the way, any idea what form of verse this is?

It's in trochaic tetrameter where full lines alternate with catalectic ones.

 

[cinefactus]

If it's as you say and mundo naufrago only goes with arca, portum praeparare feels a little bare without an indirect object.

I read it as if there were a comma after praeparare, but perhaps it should be read as, to prepare a port as an ark for a shipwrecked world.

 

[Pacifica]

perhaps it should be read as, to prepare a port as an ark for a shipwrecked world.

Yes but then

how does an ark prepare a harbor?

It seems a weird metaphor.

 

[Pacifica]

It occurred to me that arca could be ablative and the meaning could be something like "for the world that has been shipwrecked in the ark" but I wouldn't bet a lot of money on it.

 

[Pacifica]

how does an ark prepare a harbor?

It seems a weird metaphor.

Maybe, poetically, "preparing" a harbor for the world could actually mean conveying the world to the harbor. That an ark can do.

 

[cinefactus]

I was thinking the other way around. The harbour is a safe haven like an ark.

 

[Pacifica]

That would require arcam, accusative, in agreement with portum. If arca is nominative, it can only refer to the subject.

 

[cinefactus]

Of course.

 

[Inak]

Maybe just vocative? Ark is for the victim, haven is for the world.