Tu sensu tu litteris eua transformata

[Medicus]

Back with the third line of the Marian hymn I’m working on for harp accompaniment. After I couldn’t get sense of this with my little Collins, I did try online translators but they seemed pretty wide of the mark (!)

So here I am hoping some kind Latinist might help. Thanks again.

 

[Pacifica]

"You Eve transformed by the sense and by the letter"

 

[Pacifica]

At first I thought this stuff about sense and letters was a reference to the figurative and literal interpretations of Scripture.

But I found a commentary that says the part about letters refers to the ave ("hail") with which Gabriel greeted Mary—ave being Eva in reverse. If that is so, perhaps a better translation would be something like "You eve transformed in both sense and letters."

Unfortunately, the commentary doesn't say why Mary is a "square cell" (which is what I was initially seeking an explanation for). Medieval Christian metaphors can be rather obscure at times.

 

[scrabulista]

It has it as Evae...transformed to Eve?

 

[Pacifica]

has it as Evae...transformed to Eve?

Grammatically very unlikely. I think the only real way to take Evae is as a genitive, "transformed by the sense and the letters of (the name) Eve".

 

[Pacifica]

Some other sources do have it as Eva. Maybe there are variant MS readings. Either version makes sense on a grammatical level but the one with Eva seems to logically work better.

 

[scrabulista]

Unfortunately, the commentary doesn't say why Mary is a "square cell" (which is what I was initially seeking an explanation for). Medieval Christian metaphors can be rather obscure at times.

If Jesus is the "second Adam," was Mary the "second Eden?" It's not clear that Eden was square.
How does paradisus grata fit grammatically?

Another possibility I can see...in fenestra vitrea sole radiata...Is the author looking at a square stained glass window with a picture of Mary?

 

[Pacifica]

How does paradisus grata fit grammatically?

It doesn't really. Either there should be a comma between those two words, or the author made paradisus feminine, maybe because he assimilated its gender to that of Mary, or by analogy with other Greek words in -us that are feminine, or by analogy with the gender of Latin names of trees in -us... or a mixture of such factors.