Sappho's Prayer to Aphrodite (1, LP16)
Posted: February 26th, 2015, 3:32 pm
A bit of Greek lyric, not easy, but rewarding. There are seven stanzas, the first three below, the other four to follow, hopefullly in the not-too-distant future.
The meter: A good and relatively simple introduction to Greek prosody and metrics by William Annis may be found at:http://www.aoidoi.org/articles/meter/intro.pdf The discussion of Aeolic meters begins on page 9; a scheme of the Sapphic meter appears at th bottom of page 10. Rather than attempt to display the metrical pattern of the four line Sapphic stanza, I’ve decided to mark in bold characters the syllables that are stressed in chanting. It’s worth noting, however, that there is ordinarily a close linkage between the third line of the stanza and the “adonius” of the fourth line, which always has the same metrical configuration as the last two feet of a dactylic hexameer: dactyl (_ uu) followed by a spondee (_ _) — or a trochee (_ u) which counts as a spondee, since there’s a pause following it)
The dialect: On Lesbian Aeolic dialect: http://www.aoidoi.org/articles/lesbian.html
Among characteristic features are psilosis, the loss of aspiration (rough breathing) on initial consonants, recessive accent, the accent will go back as far as possible, -μι forms of contract verbs, dative plurals in -οισι and -αισι; the -οντσ- in participial syllables that becomes -ουσ- in Attic/Ionic becomes -οισ- in Lesbian Aeolic: so Aeolic φέροισα = Attic/Ionic φέρουσα. These and others will be noted in comments.
First stanza: Invocation and beginning of petition
ποικιλόθρον' ἀθανάτ Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Δίος δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε,
μή μ' ἄσαισι μηδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦ[μον, …
line 1 ποικιλόθρονος is an adjective describing the goddess of love, Ἀφρόδιτα. It derives from ποικίλος/α/ον, an adjective that might as well mean “many-splendored” — in different contexts it can signify “polychrome” or “many-layered”, “mottled,” “spotted,” etc., and from θρόνος, ὁ: seat, chair, throne — that this adjective describes Aphrodite as one who is seated on a throne that is perhaps as splendid as a peacock’s tail.
line 1 ἀθάνατος/ον: alpha-privative + θάνατος, “death”
line 1 Ἀφρόδιτα: vocative, like the two adjectives preceding it and παῖ and δολόπλοκε in the next line.
line 2 παῖ Δίος: Did you suppose that παῖς was regularly masculine? Not here. Aphrodites is, after all, the daughter of Zeus; some have suggested that she is no less mighty than her father.
line 2 Δίος: Attic/Ionic Διός — genitive of Ζεύς
line 2 δολόπλοκε: δολόπλοκος/ον: adjective compounded from δόλος, “deceit, subterfuge, wile” and πλοκ- from the root of the verb πλέκειν, “weave, interlace”
line 3 μή μ(ε) … δάμνα: negated imperative of δάμναμι, Aeolic form of δάμνημι or δαμάζειν, variant forms of the same IE root as English “tame” and “damn” with overtones of both. This is what Sappho begs Aphrodite not to do to her θύμος.
line 3 ἄσαισι: dat. pl. of ἄσα = Attic-Ionic ἄση: nausea, irritation, nagging desire
line 3 ὀνίαισι: dat. pl. of ὀνία = Attic-Ionic ἀνία: pain, heartache
line 4 πότνια: voc.: the noun derives from the IE root pot- that ordinarily indicates power, authority, rule; in older Greek poetry it is a sort of honorific for the domina, the Lady of the house, the one who “really” wears the pants. In a later era and in a different culture, women will pray to “Holy Mary, Mother of God”; Sappho prays to a sort of dominatrix — and yes, there are elements of sadomasochism here.
line 4 θύμον: Attic θυμός: heart, spirit, soul
Second stanza: Petition continued: “do, do, do what you done, done, done for me before … “
ἀλλὰ τυίδ' ἔλ[θ', αἴ ποτα κἀτέρωτα
τὰς ἔμας αὔδας ἀίοισα πήλοι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες
line 5 τυίδ' = AtticIonic τῇδε (τῇ ὁδῷ): “this way, hither”
line 5 αἴ ποτα = Attic/Ionic εἴ ποτε
line 5 κἀτέρωτα = Attic/Ionic καὶ ἑτέρ-ωθι: even/also at another time/place
line 6 τὰς ἔμας αὔδας = Attic/Ionic τῆς ἐμἠς αὐδῆς
line 6 αὔδας human speech, not quite = φωνή
line 6 ἀίοισα = Attic/Ionic ἀίοῦσα < ἀΐω = Attic/Ionic perceive by ear
line 6 πήλοι = Attic/Ionic τῆλου: far away
line 7 ἔκλυες: κλύω hear, often in the sense of heed, pay attention to
line 7 πάτρος δὲ δόμον: i.e. Olympus, home of Zeus and the other gods
line 7 λίποισα = Attic/Ionic λιποῦσα (see above on Lesbian/Aeolic dialect)
line 8 χρύσιον = Attic χρυσοῦς, Epic χρυσεῖος: Olympian homes are of gold
Third stanza: hastening through the blazing sky by sparrows’ wings awhirling
ἄρμ' ὐπασδεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνωἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω
line 9 ἄρμ(α) = Attic/Ionic ἅρμα, gen. ἅρματος, n. chariot
line 9 ὐπασδεύξαισα = Attic/Ionic ὑποζεύξασα < ὑποζεύγνυμι hitch (up/together)
line 9 ἆγον = Attic/Ionic ἦγον < ἄγειν: drive/draw
lines 9-10 κάλοι … ὤκεες στροῦθοι: Aphrodite’s chariot is drawn by sparrows that are fair and fast
line 10 περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας: Attic/Ionic might use ὑπέρ rather than περί for “over”; γᾶς = γῆς; μελαίνας: μέλας/μέλαινα/μέλαν black (Homeric: the soil or earth is “black”)
line 11: πύκνα … πτέρα: perhaps “compact … wings”: the wings of the sparrows that draw Aphrodite’s chariots are arrayed like troops aligned for battle
line 11: δίννεντες: Attic/Ionic δινεῖν: whirl around, circle about
lines 11-12: note how these two lines link so that a single word, [αἴ]θε-ρος, spans the end of line 11 and the beginning of line 12; ἀπ’ ὠράνᾤθερος: crasis for ὠράνου αἴθερος; ὠράνου = Attic/Ionic oὔρανος; αἴθηρ, gen. αἴθερος m. is the name given to the upper “blazing” part of the sky; English “ether” derives from the Greek word; μέσσω = Attic/Ionic μέσου; αἴθερος διὰ μέσσω: the preposition, as is common in Homer earlier and continuously through Greek poetry, falls in the middle of the two words it governs.
The meter: A good and relatively simple introduction to Greek prosody and metrics by William Annis may be found at:http://www.aoidoi.org/articles/meter/intro.pdf The discussion of Aeolic meters begins on page 9; a scheme of the Sapphic meter appears at th bottom of page 10. Rather than attempt to display the metrical pattern of the four line Sapphic stanza, I’ve decided to mark in bold characters the syllables that are stressed in chanting. It’s worth noting, however, that there is ordinarily a close linkage between the third line of the stanza and the “adonius” of the fourth line, which always has the same metrical configuration as the last two feet of a dactylic hexameer: dactyl (_ uu) followed by a spondee (_ _) — or a trochee (_ u) which counts as a spondee, since there’s a pause following it)
The dialect: On Lesbian Aeolic dialect: http://www.aoidoi.org/articles/lesbian.html
Among characteristic features are psilosis, the loss of aspiration (rough breathing) on initial consonants, recessive accent, the accent will go back as far as possible, -μι forms of contract verbs, dative plurals in -οισι and -αισι; the -οντσ- in participial syllables that becomes -ουσ- in Attic/Ionic becomes -οισ- in Lesbian Aeolic: so Aeolic φέροισα = Attic/Ionic φέρουσα. These and others will be noted in comments.
First stanza: Invocation and beginning of petition
ποικιλόθρον' ἀθανάτ Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Δίος δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε,
μή μ' ἄσαισι μηδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦ[μον, …
line 1 ποικιλόθρονος is an adjective describing the goddess of love, Ἀφρόδιτα. It derives from ποικίλος/α/ον, an adjective that might as well mean “many-splendored” — in different contexts it can signify “polychrome” or “many-layered”, “mottled,” “spotted,” etc., and from θρόνος, ὁ: seat, chair, throne — that this adjective describes Aphrodite as one who is seated on a throne that is perhaps as splendid as a peacock’s tail.
line 1 ἀθάνατος/ον: alpha-privative + θάνατος, “death”
line 1 Ἀφρόδιτα: vocative, like the two adjectives preceding it and παῖ and δολόπλοκε in the next line.
line 2 παῖ Δίος: Did you suppose that παῖς was regularly masculine? Not here. Aphrodites is, after all, the daughter of Zeus; some have suggested that she is no less mighty than her father.
line 2 Δίος: Attic/Ionic Διός — genitive of Ζεύς
line 2 δολόπλοκε: δολόπλοκος/ον: adjective compounded from δόλος, “deceit, subterfuge, wile” and πλοκ- from the root of the verb πλέκειν, “weave, interlace”
line 3 μή μ(ε) … δάμνα: negated imperative of δάμναμι, Aeolic form of δάμνημι or δαμάζειν, variant forms of the same IE root as English “tame” and “damn” with overtones of both. This is what Sappho begs Aphrodite not to do to her θύμος.
line 3 ἄσαισι: dat. pl. of ἄσα = Attic-Ionic ἄση: nausea, irritation, nagging desire
line 3 ὀνίαισι: dat. pl. of ὀνία = Attic-Ionic ἀνία: pain, heartache
line 4 πότνια: voc.: the noun derives from the IE root pot- that ordinarily indicates power, authority, rule; in older Greek poetry it is a sort of honorific for the domina, the Lady of the house, the one who “really” wears the pants. In a later era and in a different culture, women will pray to “Holy Mary, Mother of God”; Sappho prays to a sort of dominatrix — and yes, there are elements of sadomasochism here.
line 4 θύμον: Attic θυμός: heart, spirit, soul
Second stanza: Petition continued: “do, do, do what you done, done, done for me before … “
ἀλλὰ τυίδ' ἔλ[θ', αἴ ποτα κἀτέρωτα
τὰς ἔμας αὔδας ἀίοισα πήλοι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες
line 5 τυίδ' = AtticIonic τῇδε (τῇ ὁδῷ): “this way, hither”
line 5 αἴ ποτα = Attic/Ionic εἴ ποτε
line 5 κἀτέρωτα = Attic/Ionic καὶ ἑτέρ-ωθι: even/also at another time/place
line 6 τὰς ἔμας αὔδας = Attic/Ionic τῆς ἐμἠς αὐδῆς
line 6 αὔδας human speech, not quite = φωνή
line 6 ἀίοισα = Attic/Ionic ἀίοῦσα < ἀΐω = Attic/Ionic perceive by ear
line 6 πήλοι = Attic/Ionic τῆλου: far away
line 7 ἔκλυες: κλύω hear, often in the sense of heed, pay attention to
line 7 πάτρος δὲ δόμον: i.e. Olympus, home of Zeus and the other gods
line 7 λίποισα = Attic/Ionic λιποῦσα (see above on Lesbian/Aeolic dialect)
line 8 χρύσιον = Attic χρυσοῦς, Epic χρυσεῖος: Olympian homes are of gold
Third stanza: hastening through the blazing sky by sparrows’ wings awhirling
ἄρμ' ὐπασδεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνωἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω
line 9 ἄρμ(α) = Attic/Ionic ἅρμα, gen. ἅρματος, n. chariot
line 9 ὐπασδεύξαισα = Attic/Ionic ὑποζεύξασα < ὑποζεύγνυμι hitch (up/together)
line 9 ἆγον = Attic/Ionic ἦγον < ἄγειν: drive/draw
lines 9-10 κάλοι … ὤκεες στροῦθοι: Aphrodite’s chariot is drawn by sparrows that are fair and fast
line 10 περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας: Attic/Ionic might use ὑπέρ rather than περί for “over”; γᾶς = γῆς; μελαίνας: μέλας/μέλαινα/μέλαν black (Homeric: the soil or earth is “black”)
line 11: πύκνα … πτέρα: perhaps “compact … wings”: the wings of the sparrows that draw Aphrodite’s chariots are arrayed like troops aligned for battle
line 11: δίννεντες: Attic/Ionic δινεῖν: whirl around, circle about
lines 11-12: note how these two lines link so that a single word, [αἴ]θε-ρος, spans the end of line 11 and the beginning of line 12; ἀπ’ ὠράνᾤθερος: crasis for ὠράνου αἴθερος; ὠράνου = Attic/Ionic oὔρανος; αἴθηρ, gen. αἴθερος m. is the name given to the upper “blazing” part of the sky; English “ether” derives from the Greek word; μέσσω = Attic/Ionic μέσου; αἴθερος διὰ μέσσω: the preposition, as is common in Homer earlier and continuously through Greek poetry, falls in the middle of the two words it governs.