Βορέας σήμερον όλην τήν Βιέννην χιόνι κατένειψε.
νῦν δέ, ἀκρόθι νυκτός, ἐν σκότῳ,
τόν κῆπον οὐκέτι δύναμαι ὁρᾶν,
εἰκότως η χιών τέτηκε.
It probably contains scores of errors, but now I want to ask about ΕΙΚΟΤΩΣ. Upon seeing the above, the kind ΕΚΗΒΟΛΟΣ remarked:
The suggestion is great and supported by classical texts such Antigone 576:ἑκηβόλος wrote:Were you looking for the feminine participle εἰ(οι)κυῖα? "What seems to be snow has melted".akalovid wrote:εἰκότως η χιών τέτηκε.
Perhaps you could try something like, ἔοικε "it seems" (impersonal). With a connective for the full verb, for example δὲ, your last line might be, ἔοικε δὲ ἡ χιὼν τέτηκε, "but it seems that the snow has melted".
That got me wondering, when ΕΙΚΟΤΩΣ started to be used as “probably/it seems”. Woodhouse supplies ΕΙΚΟΤΩΣ for probably.δεδογμέν᾽, ὡς ἔοικε, τήνδε κατθανεῖν.
http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/ ... er=Keyword
The abridged Liddell Scott in Greek also gives κατά πάσαν πιθανότηταν (in all likelihood) as a translation for ΕΙΚΟΤΩΣ.
http://www.greek-language.gr/Resources/ ... lq=εικότως
But the full Liddell Scott has it as:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/mor ... ek#lexiconεἰκότως , Adv. of εἰκώς, Att. pf. part. of ἔοικα,
A.suitably, c. dat., A. Ag.915; fairly, reasonably, Id.Supp.403 (lyr.), S.OC432, 977, Isoc.12.101, etc.; εἰ. ἔχει 'tis reasonable, E.IT911, cf. Or.737 (troch.); “εἰ. δοκεῖ” And.1.140, cf. 142; οὐκ εἰ. unreasonably, Th. 1.37: folld. by γάρ, ib.77: freq. at the end of sentences, D.1.10, al., Pl.La.183b.
Some classical uses were it was NOT translated “probably” taken from above include:
Plato, Laches:
τοιγάρτοι ὃς ἂν οἴηται τραγῳδίαν καλῶς ποιεῖν, οὐκ ἔξωθεν κύκλῳ περὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν [183β] κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις ἐπιδεικνύμενος περιέρχεται, ἀλλ᾽ εὐθὺς δεῦρο φέρεται καὶ τοῖσδ᾽ ἐπιδείκνυσιν εἰκότως: …
Lamb’s translation on Perseus:
And for this reason he who thinks himself a good writer of tragedy [183b] does not tour round with his show in a circuit of the outlying Attic towns, but makes a straight line for this place and exhibits to our people, as one might expect
Demosthenes, First Olympiac:
[10] καὶ ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ τις ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, δίκαιος λογιστὴς τῶν παρὰ τῶν θεῶν ἡμῖν ὑπηργμένων καταστάς, καίπερ οὐκ ἐχόντων ὡς δεῖ πολλῶν, ὅμως μεγάλην ἂν ἔχειν αὐτοῖς χάριν, εἰκότως:
Vince’s translation on Perseus:
Men of Athens, let anyone fairly reckon up the blessings we have received of the gods, and though much is amiss, none the less his gratitude will be great—and rightly so: