Cursum perficio. I am making an end to my course.
Verbum sapienti: A word to the wise:
quo plus habent, the more [people] have
eo plus cupiunt. the more they want.
Post nubila, Phoebus After the clouds, Phoebus (1)
Iternum Over and over again (2)
Notes:
(1) Phoebus was one of the names for the Sun god, which may be more famous as
Apollo (Greek). It is notable that the Sun is a male.
(2) The word ‘iternum’ does not exist; it could either be a misspelling for
‘eternum’ (eternal), which is unlikely since it is very rare that an
adjective be used as an adverb, or for ‘iterum’ (again and again) which is
in fact an adverb and makes a little more sense (!!).
The meaning of ‘cursum perficio’ is actually best explained by the
footnote to the lyrics: Enya was inspired by these words she saw on
Marylin Monroe’s last house, where they were taken to mean «my journey
ends here». It is a rather «free» translation, but it’s probably a very
good way to convey the meaning of Latin, which has a way of saying things
that is very distant from modern-day English. The fact that those words
turned out to be prophetical only adds to the power of the song.
Translation by Konrad Schroder ([email protected])
Notes by Mauro Cicognini ([email protected])
