Random Tweet Translation Contests

[jeidsath]

"My neighbour told me I'd left my lights on. I told her she'd left her big nose on."

(Greek or Latin is fine)

[jeidsath]

οὐκ ἔφη με σβέσαι τὴν ἑστίαν ἡ γείτων. εἶπον δ’ ὅτι οὐκ ἔσβεσας τὴν ῥῖνα.

EDIT: That should be τὴν μεγάλην ῥῖνα.

[Markos]

ταύτης εἰπούσης ὅτι «δεῖ σε σβέσαι τὰς λαμπάδας,» ὑπέλαβον «σέ δὲ τὴν ὕβριν.»

(Note that I intentionally wrote mine before looking at yours. We therefore did some similar things independently.)

[mwh]

γειτονι καλουσῃ πολυλυχνον με πολυλυχνον
συ δη πολυπραγμων ως πολυπραγμων τυγχανεις.

[jeidsath]

γειτονι καλουσῃ πολυλυχνον με πολυλυχνον
συ δη πολυπραγμων ως πολυπραγμων τυγχανεις.

This improves on the original quite a bit.

[mwh]

It aims to match the original, not improve on it. I wrote it for οἱ πολύπειροι. It’s meant to be comic iambics. Think of πολυλυχνος, with its alliteration and repetition, as an Aristophanic coinage. The big nose putdown quip cries out for πολυπραγμων, and that was my starting point. But Markos’ version is very good. I’d substitute τὴν πολυπραγμοσύνην for τὴν ὕβριν (there’s been no ὕβρις) and award him the prize.

[jeidsath]

I may not be πολύπειρος, but I noticed that they had much more freedom than tragic iambs and assumed comic -- neither line respects the law of the final cretic, the first line has a spondee in the fourth foot, a tribrach in the fifth, and the "πολυλυχνον με πολυλυχνον" and "πολυπραγμων ως πολυπραγμων" are distinctive. I also thought that you probably meant a coinage for πολυλυχνον rather than the LSJ definition.

I'm afraid that the only prize available for Markos is to be the next person to pick another tweet from http://funtweets.com/random. (Nothing political, please. I've given up watching the news and am concentrating on Greek.)

[Pros]

εἶπεν ἡ περίοικος πρός με ὅτι αὐτὴν ἰδεῖν τὸν λύχνον μου καιόμενον ἀπιόντος. ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῇ ὅτι ἡ μεγάλη ῥὶς αὐτῆς ἔτι εἴη καιομένη.

Joel wrote:
Pros -- Can ὅτι be followed by accusative and infinitive like that? (Although the whole thing is very clear to me.)

No, It can't. Thanks for correcting me.

εἶπεν ἡ περίοικος πρός με, αὐτὴν ἰδεῖν τὸν λύχνον μου καιόμενον ἀπιόντος. ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῇ ὅτι ἡ μεγάλη ῥὶς αὐτῆς ἔτι εἴη καιομένη.

[mwh]

Joel, No iambic trimeter can have a spondee in the fourth foot. And you really do need to stop thinking in terms of tribrachs and such, and start thinking in terms of resolutions.

[jeidsath]

mwh -- Thanks, I should have noticed that χν was mute-liquid. I'll start a thread in the main Greek forum about resolutions.

Pros -- Can ὅτι be followed by accusative and infinitive like that? (Although the whole thing is very clear to me.)

[Markos]

The woman I love doesn't even know that I exist. And I'm beginning to think that she has a point.

καλόν ἐστι καὶ ἄξιον πολλοῦ τὸ νομίζειν ταύτην με οὐδενὸς ἄξιον.

[jeidsath]

οὐ μὲν κατέγνω μοῦ βλέπειν ἐρωμένη,
ἐγὼ δ’ ἔγνων νιν εὐπρεπῶς ποιοῦντά μοι

[Pros]

ἡ γυνὴ ἥν ἀγαπῶ οὐδὲ οἶδέ με ζῶντα.
ἐγὼ δὲ ἄρχομαι νομίζειν ταύτην ἔχειν τι λέγειν.

mwh said:
τι λέγειν is good (though better without εχειν, and it doesn’t cohere too well with ουδε οιδε).

Thank you. As I look at it again, I believe the following is better.

οὐδὲ ἡ γυνὴ ἥν ἀγαπῶ οἶδέ με ζῶντα.
ἐγὼ δὲ ἄρχομαι νομίζειν ταύτην λέγειν τι.

Vocabulary Note:
λέγειν τι, make a point, score a point(in an argument). LSJ

mwh also said:
Pros, you do well to translate this one literally (unlike the last one), and if I were judge I’d say you win hands-down.

Wow, thanks!

[mwh]

Markos, You’re handicapped by your lamentably limited repertoire of words and phrases. It’s obvious you didn’t get far with Dickey.

Joel, I’d advise against attempting verse. You’ve fixed your metrical errors (though I’m not sure what μοῦ is supposed to be), but even if you make ποιουντα feminine this is frankly unintelligible.

Pros, you do well to translate this one literally (unlike the last one), and if I were judge I’d say you win hands-down. τι λέγειν is good (though better without εχειν, and it doesn’t cohere too well with ουδε οιδε).

Taking my cue from all of you, I offer
ἡ γυνὴ ἧς ἐρῶ οὐκ οἶδέ με οὐδ’ ὅτι εἰμί· κἄμοιγε δοκεῖ ὡς τάχ’ἂν τἀληθῆ εἰδείη.