on copious or not materials

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Drago
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Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:29 am

on copious or not materials

Post by Drago »

Hello. I have heard such things as some epic poems divided into 24 books.
Is this to say that each of these books is quite lengthy?
Or do several pages qualify as a book?

I hope that we divide the poem into 24ths.
Because otherwise we would have an uncomfortably hefty book on our hands.

It pertains to my choosing whether or not to study the language.
Because always I intend to associate with entrancing sounds.
Except none of them there is anything to preserve it.

anphph
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Re: on copious or not materials

Post by anphph »

The Iliad and the Odyssey, for instance, are traditionally divided into 24 cantos or books, one for each letter of the Greek alphabet, and each canto/book contains around 700 verses. They are not 24 tomes, so the name "book" may be misleading. Either will fit completely into a single tome: just hit a library and check.

I am not sure I understand the second part of your question. Are you saying there are no ways to know for sure how the languge was pronounced? If so, well, that's true in a sense: we can't be absolutely sure. But from various methods (records, comparisons, spelling and, in the case of Greek, even Modern Greek) we can get a pretty clear picture. There are also many resources online and in print with both studies and sound files registering reconstructed Greek pronunciation.

Hope this was of help.

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