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Sat 23 May, 2015 03:07 am
I am working on a project that involves gravestones in a medieval monastery in Germany. This particular fragment from one of the gravestones intrigues me, because I have a vague idea of its meaning but I don't fully understand it. I would really appreciate a proper translation. Thanks very much.
QVAM D[VM CALCE PREMIS SVPPLEX TVA PLANGE VIAT]OR / FVN[ERA MORS SOCIAS CRAS IVBET ESS FORE]S.
@lucialinkletter,
Hi Lucialinkletter,
Sorry, Unable to understand.
@lucialinkletter,
It's not a genuine headstone, it's a marketing gimmick, just a brief foray into google translate says as much.
@lucialinkletter,
There could be a chronogram within this text - depending on the region and order there would be one.
A photo would be helpful.
QVAM D[VM CALCE PREMIS SVPPLEX TVA PLANGE VIAT]OR /
FVN[ERA MORS SOCIAS CRAS IVBET ESS FORE]S.
For starters, I dropped the square brackets. Why are they there?
The slash seems to indicate a new line.
Then I assumed ESS was ESSE. There is no word ESS in Latin.
The best I can offer as a translation is
Mourn, kneeling traveler, as you press with your heel.
Tomorrow Death orders funerals to be the companion doors.
@George,
That's pretty impressive George.
@George,
Looking again, I think "supplicant" would be a better translation for the
word
supplex than "kneeling". To press with the
heel seems to be describing a rider urging on his horse.
@George,
In (southern) Germany and Austria you find quite a few gravestones which similar inscriptions in German (mainly from the 19th century).
[Not addressed to a "kneeling traveller" but mostly to "wanderers".]
@lucialinkletter,
I think, lucia, you know the books "Germanica Sacra".
In the
digitalised version I noticed that information about several gravestones are to be found in the "Würtembergisches Urkundenbuch" ("
WirtUB").
Thanks for your help everyone. This is what I've pieced together:
When you place your feet here, suppliant / lament your own burial, wanderer / on the morrow Death orders the double doors to be joined
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