What does this mean? Please help.

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
yuna
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:33 am

What does this mean? Please help.

Post by yuna »

Ο4ν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.
Thanks in advance.

I cannot figure out the meaning of
ο4ν
in the sentence above.

And one more question, is this right to translate it like this?
ο4ν The gods love the young dies.

(from A new introduction to greek, lesson 15, Reading)

Eureka
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 741
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:52 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Eureka »

Hi, yuna.

It's the masculine accusative singular of the relative pronoun ο3ς ‐ η3 ‐ ο3. So it means "who", or in this case "he who" is probably better.
Last edited by Eureka on Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

yuna
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:33 am

Post by yuna »

thank you!

and

He who Gods love (is) die young.

Does it make sense? -_-;

Eureka
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 741
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:52 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Eureka »

[size=150]φιλοῦσιν[/size] and ἀποθνῄσκει are verbs, so ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν means roughly:

"The gods love the one who..."

and the rest means

"...dies young."


(I think it means that he dies young because the gods love him, rather than the gods love him because he dies young. But I'm not certain. Perhaps someone with more Greek knowledge than I have is needed to say for sure.)

yuna
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:33 am

Post by yuna »

Now I understand. :oops:

Thank you again^^

annis
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3399
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 4:55 pm
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by annis »

Eureka wrote:(I think it means that he dies young because the gods love him, rather than the gods love him because he dies young. But I'm not certain.
"(he) whom the gods love dies young." It's the first meaning. :)
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Post Reply