# Fossurae impigritas effodit fragmina pontis eruta quae tenebris hic rediviva nitent



## LimboHC

Hi all!

*Fossurae impigritas effodit fragmina pontis eruta quae tenebris hic redivina nitent*

I found this text on a floortile near the site where the first Roman bridge across the river Maas once was.

I never studied Latin, but with the help of some friends (who haven't studied Latin either) i think it should be something like: "During excavation of the channel fragments of the old bridge were found."

(The river Maas is channelized now)

Someone told me the meaning of some words, but she wasn't sure either

redivina = wich leads back?
nitent = beautiful?
tenibris = darkness?

I'm setting up sort of a sightseeing tour in my hometown Maastricht and would really like to know what it says exactly.

Thank you in advance.
Limbo.

Moderation note:
Please include your question both in the title and the post itself. Thread titles may be edited for redefining the scope of the thread, correcting typos and other reasons to make the thread more searchable and poster-friendly. It is, therefore, important for the original question to remain unchanged in the main body of the post.


----------



## J.F. de TROYES

One word in your qotation is puzzling me : are you sure of "redivi*n*a"? On the other hand the ajective "redivi*v*us,a, um " exists and agrees with the general meaning, unless it is a post-classical formation.
I'd suggest to translate this way :
" The well-operating channel extracted fragments brought away from the bridge, which after being resuscitated from darkness are shining here "

nitent is a verb meaning "to gleam", "to shine" (present-pl.3rd pers.)
quae is a relative pronoun agreeing with "fragmenta" ( plural , because of the relative clause "nitent".
hic = here

Hope it helps.


----------



## LimboHC

I discovered my aunt studied Latin and she thinks it means (translated from Latin, to Dutch to English now):

"After longlasting excavation, parts of the bridge were brought from the darkness into the light."

Does this translation sound plausible? It makes sense to me because the present bridge is located about 75 yards to the side of were the first bridge once was, and it's a fact that fragments of the first one were used in building the 'new' one.

About the quotation, I copied the text exactly like it's written, except for the "U"-s which are written as a "V".

Grtz,
Limbo


----------



## J.F. de TROYES

Basically I agree with this translation that fits the idea and I confess I have made a mistake about the meaning of "fossurae" which has nothing to do with "channel"  . So I'll suggest a second attempt which does not refute at all your more  synthesized proposal :
"Because of the intense drilling fragments broken away from he bridge were brought  from the dark and are now shining here".

I am still wondering whether somebody knows the word "*redivina*" which looks more spanish than Latin, but anyhow I can't find it. Thanks for any hint.


----------



## brian

Hi all,

I agree that _redivina_ looks strange, and I don't recognize it either. I guess we can assume the _re-_ just means "again" and that _divina_ has the sense of "divine" (perhaps, though this is just cognates speaking), "illustrious," "special in some way," etc.

Anyway, the literal translation would be:

_The activity of the digging has dug up fragments of a bridge, (fragments) which, having been drawn out, shine here in the darkness, having been made spectacular again._

Something like that. Better-sounding in English would be:

_The digging process has drawn forth the fragments of a bridge that shine brightly again here in darkness._

I took "tenebris" to mean "in the darkness" rather than "from the darkness" (with "eruta"). Comments?


brian


----------



## Flaminius

Hello Brian,

Your "in the darkness" interpretation clears up a lot of problems but I am just wondering what the darkness here is supposed to mean.  Are we back to those dark ages?


----------



## brian

Haha could be! Perhaps this "redivina" word somehow takes an ablative with the sense of "from," meaning "which shines here with a renewed luster out of darkness." But who knows...

One could also posit "which shines here despite being (having been?) shrouded in darkness..."


----------



## LimboHC

My sincere appologies people! I went back to the place where I found the text and J.F. de Troyes 					 was right, it says "redivi*v*a" in stead of "redivi*n*a".

I misread 'IV' for a 'N' (Lame excuse, but it's quite an old tile.)

Quit happy with what you've come up with so far though, despite that little error i've made 
Thanx!


Limbo.


----------

