Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Discussion of Greek texts that do not fall into the other categories, including texts in other dialects or texts from other periods.
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Wes Wood
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Joined: September 20th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Post by Wes Wood »

αἱ δὲ βάτοι νιν ἐρχομέναν κείροντι καὶ ἱερὸν αἷμα δρέπονται
And while she is going the brambles are tearing/cutting her and are harvesting her holy blood.

Is this close?
Ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείσομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν.-Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους 29δ
cwconrad
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Re: Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Post by cwconrad »

Wes Wood wrote:αἱ δὲ βάτοι νιν ἐρχομέναν κείροντι καὶ ἱερὸν αἷμα δρέπονται
And while she is going the brambles are tearing/cutting her and are harvesting her holy blood.

Is this close?
Nice, Wes! Wow! You must have been researching Stephen's new word list that includes κείρειν. I'd never heard of this "Burial of Adonis." Presumably the νιν with the ἱερὸν αἷμα is Aphrodite? I don't think I've ever before seen this old, old form of the 3rd pl. pres. indic. κείροντι (Attic κείρουσι). Curious metaphoric use of "shear" and "reap" here. This is dactylic hexameter verse, so the text should be laid out:
... αἱ δὲ βάτοι νιν
ἐρχομέναν κείροντι καὶ ἱερὸν αἷμα δρέπονται
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Wes Wood
Posts: 692
Joined: September 20th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Re: Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Post by Wes Wood »

cwconrad wrote:Nice, Wes! Wow! You must have been researching Stephen's new word list that includes κείρειν. I'd never heard of this "Burial of Adonis." Presumably the νιν with the ἱερὸν αἷμα is Aphrodite? I don't think I've ever before seen this old, old form of the 3rd pl. pres. indic. κείροντι (Attic κείρουσι). Curious metaphoric use of "shear" and "reap" here. This is dactylic hexameter verse, so the text should be laid out:
You are correct on all counts, I believe. It seemed to be an interesting text but one clearly beyond my abilities right now. That particular snippet wasn't too bad, though. I am reasonably certain that is the first time I have seen νιν, but that makes sense. I have been avoiding the other Greek 'flavors' until I feel comfortable with literary Attic.
Ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείσομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν.-Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους 29δ
cwconrad
Posts: 2112
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:52 pm
Location: Burnsville, NC 28714
Contact:

Re: Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Post by cwconrad »

Wes Wood wrote:
cwconrad wrote:Nice, Wes! Wow! You must have been researching Stephen's new word list that includes κείρειν. I'd never heard of this "Burial of Adonis." Presumably the νιν with the ἱερὸν αἷμα is Aphrodite? I don't think I've ever before seen this old, old form of the 3rd pl. pres. indic. κείροντι (Attic κείρουσι). Curious metaphoric use of "shear" and "reap" here. This is dactylic hexameter verse, so the text should be laid out:
You are correct on all counts, I believe. It seemed to be an interesting text but one clearly beyond my abilities right now. That particular snippet wasn't too bad, though. I am reasonably certain that is the first time I have seen νιν, but that makes sense. I have been avoiding the other Greek 'flavors' until I feel comfortable with literary Attic.
One of the 'flavors' of Greek that I think you would enjoy without finding it so very great a challenge is the Ionic of Herodotus Once you get used to the fact that all the long alphas of Attic are etas in Ionic, it's easy reading. There's even a 99c Kindle text of Herodotus with both Greek and English and illustrations http://tinyurl.com/j4slprp. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a salesman, but Herodotus is really fun reading, from the very opening tongue-in-cheek account of the alternative rationales for fighting the Trojan War.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Wes Wood
Posts: 692
Joined: September 20th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Re: Translation Check: ΑΔΩΝΙΔΟΣ ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ

Post by Wes Wood »

Hopefully, I will be able to move that direction this summer. My short term plan is to be able to read through book one of "Laws" without the aid of a lexicon. Now that I think about it, that task may be better described as a long term goal. :lol:
Ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείσομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν.-Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους 29δ
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