Legenda: Bonnacon

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Bonnacon

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The story of The Bonnacon is adapted from Aelian (Latin translation) and the text of the Aberdeen Bestiary . Additional information has also been included from Hofmann's Lexicon Universale.

For more information about the bonnacon, visit the Bonnacon in the Zoo. You can also visit the Bonnacon page at the bestiary.ca website for a discussion in English, bibliography and other useful references.

Use this Study Guide to organize your learning activities.

In Asia animal nascitur quod bonnacon dicunt cui taurinum caput est, ac deinde corpus omne taurinum, tantum iuba equina.	quod: relative pronoun, antecedent is animal cui: relative pronoun, antecedent is animal - dative of possession taurinum...equina: the i is long, so penultimate stress tantum: in the sense of "only" or "except" ("only its mane is that of a horse")
Cornua autem habet ita in se recurrentia multiplici flexu, ut si quis in eo offendat non vulneretur.	autem: postpositive si quis = si aliquis offendat: subjunctive in a conditional sentence vulneretur: subjunctive introduced by ut
Sed quicquid praesidii monstro illi frons negat, alvus sufficit.	quicquid praesidii: partitive genitive
Nam cum in fugam vertit, proluvie citi ventris fimum egerit per longitudinem trium iugerum, cuius ardor quidquid attigerit amburit.	fimum: many versions of the story read "fumum" instead of "fimum" egerit: from the verb egero, egerere trium iugerum: three Roman acres (a Roman acre was 28,800 square feet, or 240 feet in length by 120 in breadth, compared to the English acre that is 43,560 square feet) cuius: relative pronoun, antecedent is fimum amburit: the u is long, so penultimate stress
Ita egerie noxia summovet insequentes.
Et stercus eius tam acre est, et igneum, si in venatorum quempiam inciderit, mortem adfert.
Carnes non solum edules, sed et suaves habet, a venantibus igitur expetitas.	non solum...sed et: "not only... but also..." edules: u is long, so penultimate stress expetitas: i is long, so penultimate stress igitur: postpositive
Aristoteles dicit non in fuga egerere ventris proluviem, sed cum viribus defectus fugere amplius non valet.	egerere: infinitive in indirect statement (introduced by dicit, subject of the infinitive is implied bonnacon) defectus...valet: participle plus infinitive ("it is out of strength... and cannot...") fugere: complementary infinitive with valet
Tum ad defendendum se parat, calces eiectans et fimum amburentem eiaculans, ad quattuor orgyiarum longitudinem	orgyiarum: the Greek orguia was about two meters in length
(quattuor orgyiarum Aristoteles habet, quae faciunt pedes viginti quattuor, non vero tria iugera, quae sunt pedum sescenti).	quae: relative pronoun, antecedent is orgyiarum vero: postpositive quae: relative pronoun, antecedent is iugera