Sophokles, Sophocles, and the OUP

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Brian Gould
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Joined: May 26th, 2019, 6:30 am

Sophokles, Sophocles, and the OUP

Post by Brian Gould »

Please forgive me for asking a question that is now twenty years old and, in any case, has only a tenuous connection with Biblical Greek, but it would be helpful to know which way to turn when confronted with this fork in the road.

The OUP series titled Greek Tragedy in New Translations introduces what are, for me, new rules governing the representation of Greek names in English. In the Antigone, for example, we meet characters named Kreon and Polyneikes.

Is this a convention that we are now expected to observe in whatever we ourselves write, even if it’s only a post on a comments thread in a remote corner of the internet? Or can we safely remain stuck in our antiquated, comfortable ways?

I note that the OUP itself stops short of giving the change its wholehearted endorsement. The translators and editors have taken care to spell the author’s name as Sophokles throughout, but on the cover and the title page he stubbornly survives in his old, familiar guise.

Jonathan Robie
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Re: Sophokles, Sophocles, and the OUP

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Brian Gould wrote: August 25th, 2023, 9:29 am The OUP series titled Greek Tragedy in New Translations introduces what are, for me, new rules governing the representation of Greek names in English. In the Antigone, for example, we meet characters named Kreon and Polyneikes.

Is this a convention that we are now expected to observe in whatever we ourselves write, even if it’s only a post on a comments thread in a remote corner of the internet?
No.

There are a variety of conventions for transliterating Greek. SBL has a standard that is widely used. There are others.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Brian Gould
Posts: 50
Joined: May 26th, 2019, 6:30 am

Re: Sophokles, Sophocles, and the OUP

Post by Brian Gould »

Thank you, Jonathan. It's good to know that.
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