Mica, mica, parva Stella!

I'm working on Latin nursery rhymes, finding all the public domain ones that I can, and then I'm going to try writing some of my own too. Here's a familiar one to start with: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, although you might not know these additional verses (I didn't know them). More at Wikipedia about this rhyme, and for a wonderfully inventive set of variations see this article: Change Things Up! Ten “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” Variations.

Latin rhyme from Arundines Cami, published in 1851.

Mica, mica, parva Stella!

Miror quaenam sis, tam bella!

    Splendens éminus in illo,

    Alba velut gemma, caelo.

        Mica, mica, parva Stella!

        Miror quaenam sis, tam bella!

Quando fervens Sol discéssit,

Nec calóre prata pascit,

    Mox osténdis lumen purum,

    Micans, micans, per obscúrum.

        Mica, mica, parva Stella!

        Miror quaenam sis, tam bella!

Tibi, noctu qui vagátur,

Ob scintíllulam gratátur:

    Ni micáres tu, non sciret

    Quas per vias errans iret.

        Mica, mica, parva Stella!

        Miror quaenam sis, tam bella!

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illustration by H. W. LeMair

(YouTube)

Here's the English version:

Twinkle, twinkle, little Star!

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little Star!

How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing Sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Twinkle, twinkle, little Star!

How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveller in the dark

Thanks you for your tiny spark:

He couldn't see which way to go

If you did not twinkle so.

Twinkle, twinkle, little Star!

How I wonder what you are!

And here's a literal English translation of the Latin, side by side:

Twinkle, twinkle little Star!

    Mica, mica, parva Stella!

I wonder what you are, so pretty!

    Miror quaenam sis, tam bella!

Shining far-off in the sky,

    Splendens éminus in illo caelo,

like a pearl. (= white gem)

    velut alba gemma.

When the blazing Sun departs

    Quando fervens Sol discéssit,

and doesn’t feed the fields with heat,

    nec pascit prata calóre,

then you show a pure light,

    mox osténdis purum lumen.

twinkling, twinkling, through the dark.

    micans, micans, per obscúrum.

Then the traveller in the dark

    Qui vagátur noctu

thanks you for your tiny spark:

    gratátur tibi ob scintíllulam:

if you didn’t twinkle, he wouldn’t know

    ni tu micáres, non sciret

which ways to go, wandering.

    per quas vias iret, errans.