Ah, [face=SPIonic]
dh/[/face], how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...<br /><br />Welcome to the word of Greek particles! People still write dissertations on these things, and the exact force of particular ones may still be hotly debated. In this case, [face=SPIonic]
dh/[/face] is emphatic. It follows some word you wish to draw attention to, and is conventionally translated "indeed, truly," and so on, but this is misleading. It's too strong, and as you discovered makes the translation klunky. Very often these emphatic particles are best translated in a vocal manner: stressing the phrase marked, rather than using an additional word. This is of course hard to translate.<br /><br />When you're reading the greek, and run across [face=SPIonic]
dh/[/face], think "ah, this word or phrase just before it is stressed." (You should read Greek to read Greek, not to translate in your head, ultimately.)<br /><br />So, the emphatic particles just draw attention to a word or phrase. The Greeks use a little word to do what many languages do with volume, in this sense.
But the particles have what linguists would call pragmatic or discourse functions, too. For example, [face=SPIonic]
ge[/face] - which you will see soon - is also emphatic, but implies a selection. The speaker using it is thinking "ah, the person I'm talking to thinks 'X or Y', and I need to say, 'no, just X.'" <br /><br />Or [face=SPIonic]
a)/ra[/face], which is very common, implies a logical or natural sequence. "So and so did X, and [face=SPIonic]
a)/ra[/face] someone else did Y."<br /><br />In the case of [face=SPIonic]
dh/[/face] in Homer (less in later Greek) there is a strong sense of
time that goes along with the emphasis, sort of like "now, at last" but without the strong present-tense feel all those phrases have in English. So you see [face=SPIonic]
dh/[/face] a lot after phrases of time (like your example), or after [face=SPIonic]
to/te dh/, ei) dh/, ktl.[/face].<br /><br />Hmm. According to Monro it also follows adjectives in the superlative to indicate the very highest degree, as Nestor will say at about line 266, [face=SPIonic]
ka/rtistoi dh/ kei=noi ktl[/face] "those (were) quite the mightiest men..."<br /><br />Each of the particles has its own typical uses. I could make a list, or go find one, but most of this is only going to become clear after you read more Greek. Everyone finds them perplexing at first. Think of them as emphasis and just think the translation louder
for now, and pay attention to the uses. It'll become clearer over time.<br /><br />Finally, Homer is very liberal with his particles. The teeny ones can be used to make the meter work. So can one like [face=SPIonic]
a)/ra[/face] be used to fill out a syllable or two since the sense of it fits perfectly in a narrative.
by Bert » Tue Jul 22, 2003 1:01 am 