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A Wendell Berry quote

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:18 am
by NathanSmith
Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered, he has not destroyed.
So far I have:

ευλογει αγνωσιαν, ὅ γαρ ανθρωπος ουχ ευρηκεν, ὅ ουκ απολωλεν.

I am struggling with the relative pronouns. Is it OK to use a relative twice (as I did) without a referent when its generic? Please excuse the lack of accents. ;-)

Re: A Wendell Berry quote

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:43 am
by modus.irrealis
You don't need a second relative, just the first one, and the lack of referent seems correct to me.

ἀπόλωλα, despite its active endings, has a passive sense -- you need ἀπολώλεκεν.

Re: A Wendell Berry quote

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:27 am
by Damoetas
A few small suggestions:

ἐπαινέω is a better word for 'praise.' This is what is used in Plato's dialogues in a similar context (to name one example).

Abstract nouns often take the article; hence, τὴν ἀγνωσίαν. Likewise nouns referring to an entire class: ὁ ἄνθρωπος, 'man,' i.e. the human race.

I have a sense that the word order of the last part could be polished up a little bit. Putting it all together, I would say:

ἐπαίνει τὴν ἀγνωσίαν· ὃ γὰρ οὐχ εὕρηκεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἀπολώλεκεν.

Or, if you don't want it to be a command to a single individual, but a general statement, "One should praise..." you could use one of the verbal adjective in -τέον (Smyth 2149-52):

ἐπαινητέον τὴν ἀγνωσίαν....

Re: A Wendell Berry quote

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:29 am
by NathanSmith
Thanks for the feedback. :-)