“In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” is a Latin palindrome doubling as a riddle. It’s variously translated as “We enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire” or “We turn in circles in the night and are devoured by fire.” The answer to the riddle: moths. This Latin palindrome is also the title of a film by French director Guy Debord, and is referenced in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Latin Palindrome Riddle”
Here is a really cool Latin palindrome that’s also a riddle.
In girum imus nocte et cum sumimur igni.
It would take me weeks to puzzle that out.
My Latin is so poor.
I heard night in there, did I?
You did.
You did.
Did I hear ignorant or knowledge or something?
Igni?
No.
Think about what else.
Rocks.
Igneous rocks?
No?
Fire.
Fire.
Like ignite.
Here we go.
This is a Latin palindrome that translates as, we enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire.
Ooh.
Or we turn in circles in the night and we are devoured by fire.
So it can’t be a palindrome also in English in translation.
No, no.
That would be quite a feat, though.
Yeah, wouldn’t that be cool?
That would be amazing.
But it refers to moths.
Oh, nice.
We enter the circle at night and are consumed.
A palindrome and a riddle.
Isn’t that cool?
How clever is that?
In Latin.
Can you give it to us one more time in Latin?
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni.
And Umberto Eco actually echoed that in The Name of the Rose.
And the French filmmaker Guy Debord in the 70s also produced a film that had that same name.
The whole palindrome in Latin?
I think so, yeah.
Yeah, the French man.
I wonder how they did it at the box office.
Well, we haven’t heard of it, right?
