Chaira, I'm new

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hannie
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Chaira, I'm new

Post by hannie »

I'm new but I have been taking this elementary Greek course and so far I have been doing well. But here's the issue, I really can't translate verbs when they are in their different forms. I get confused with the whole 2nd middle primary... whatever it is. :roll: There's this recent thing that I'm trying to translate and I am having a very hard time doing it.. My fellow greekians :wink: please help me out. It's pretty long though. Thank y'all very much. :D
οὕτως οὖν ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ κυρίου ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐλθὼν τὸν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ παῖδα ἔσωσε. νῦν δὲ βούλομαι ὑμῖν ἄλλον μῦθον ἐξηγεῖσθαι, ὃν Θρασύστομος ἐμοὶ καὶ τῇ ἀδελφῇ ἐμοῦ ἐχθὲς ἔλεγε. πρωὶ μὲν ἀπήλθομεν ἀπὸ τὴς οἰκὶας ἀναβαίνοντες ἀνὰ τὰ ὄρη ὡς νεμοῦντες τὰ πρόβατα. ἡσυχαζόντων δέ ποτε μεσημβρίῃ ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ, ἠκούσαμεν φάττης στεναζούσης ἐν δέντρῳ τινί· ἡ δ' Ἑλένη, "φεῦ τῆς ὄρνιθος. ὡς οἰκτρῶς ἀναστενάζει." ὁ δὲ Θρασύστομος, "καὶ εὖ ποιοῦσα, φησίν· ἦν γάρ ποτε παρθένος καὶ αὐτή." ἡ δὲ φησίν, "πῶς ἄρα παρθένος ἐγένετο φάττα; ἐὰν λέγῃς ἡμῖν τὸν μῦθον, μάλιστα τερψόμεθα καὶ ἀκριδοθήραν σοι πλέξω. παραμύθιον ἔσται τοῦ θάλπους." ὁ δ' οὐδὲν φθονῶν εἶπε τοιάδε·
"πάλαι ποτὲ ἦν παρθένος καλή· ἔνεμε δὲ βοῦς πολλὰς οὕτως ἐν ὕλῃ· ἦν δ' ἄρα καὶ μουσική τις. καὶ ἐτέρποντο αἱ βόες ταῖς ᾠδαῖς, καὶ ἤγε τὰς βοῦς οὔτε καλαύροπι οὔτε κέντρῳ χρωμένη· ἀλλὰ καθημένη ὑπὸ δρύος, καὶ στεφανίσκον ἔχουσα δρύος, ᾖδε Πᾶνα καὶ Δάφνιν καὶ Μούσας καὶ Ἔρωτες, αἱ δὲ βόες παρέμενον ἡδόμεναι τῇ ᾠδῇ. παῖς δ' ἦν πέλας νέμων αἶγας, ὢν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἄμουσος, φιλονικῶν δ' ὡς ἀνὴρ πρὸς γυναῖκα, μέλος ᾖδεν ἀντῳδόν· ᾄδων δ' ἔθελξε τὰς βοῦς τὰς τῆς παρθένου, καὶ τῶν βοῶν ὀκτὼ αἱ ἄρισται ᾤχοντο φερόμεναι ὡς αὐτόν. ἤχθετο δ' ἡ παρθένος τὰς μὲν βοῦς ὀλέσασα, τῇ δ' ᾠδῇ ἡττηθεῖσα· καὶ ηὔχετο τοῖς θεοῖς ὄρνις γενέσθαι πρὶν οἴκαδ' ἀφικέσθαι. ἐπείθοντο δ' οἱ θεοί, καὶ μεταλλάττουσιν αὐτῇ τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἐγένετο αὕτη ἡ ὄρνις, ἡ φάττα, μουσικωτάτη οὖσα· στένει δ' ἥδε ἔτι καὶ νῦν, μηνύουσα τὴν συμφοράν, ὅτι ζητεῖ τὰς βοῦς, αἳ ἐπλανήθησαν."

daivid
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Re: Chaira, I'm new

Post by daivid »

hannie wrote:I'm new but I have been taking this elementary Greek course and so far I have been doing well. But here's the issue, I really can't translate verbs when they are in their different forms. I get confused with the whole 2nd middle primary... whatever it is. :roll: There's this recent thing that I'm trying to translate and I am having a very hard time doing it.. My fellow greekians :wink: please help me out. It's pretty long though. Thank y'all very much. :D "
You will probably find it more useful to select one sentence, give us your best effort at a translation (even if it is very little) and make a stab at saying what makes it so hard. I say make a stab because I know that sometimes it the problem is that the everything altogether just overwhelms. However, unless you at least make a stab others can't focus in on what you are finding difficult.

You can always post a further questions afterwards.
λονδον

mwh
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Re: Chaira, I'm new

Post by mwh »

Welcome Chaira! Good advice from daivid.

A couple of typos in the text that could throw you off:
δέντρῳ should be δένδρῳ
Ἔρωτες should be Ἔρωτας
(Also, ἤγε should be ἦγε. And μεσημβρίῃ should really be μεσημβρίᾳ, but that's just being picky.)

The story is adapted from a delectable ancient Greek romantic novel which is not all that much harder to read than this rewrite (and a whole lot more enjoyable). Something to look forward to!

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