Translation help real quick

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Anjelous
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Translation help real quick

Post by Anjelous »

This isn't homework, so no worries about helping me cheat or anything silly like that. Basically I just need a little push in the right direction, I wonder of someone might be so kind as to render the first four sentences into English so my comprehension can benefit? I can READ them, and even get a rough idea of their meaning, but my brain gets confused when i see the genitive and accusative cases, because I'm not sure of the MEANING I'm supposed to be deriving.

For example, #3. Anthropon psukas? You have the genitive plural and the accusative plural... lively men? Men full of life?

And #1. Logos is a masculine noun, you've got sophou genitive singular, sophos the masculine form of the adjective, and estin meaning 'it is'. Individually I know all the words but how do you put it all together as a complete, comprehensible sentence?

Link to my public dropbox so you all can see the picture of the sentences in question. I'm an undergrad but this isn't school related so I don't have any professor guiding me through this, hence my brain is prone to confusion.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31300764/Photo% ... %20PM.jpeg

spiphany
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Re: Translation help real quick

Post by spiphany »

1 and 4 are aphorisms of the form x is (is not) y.
1) λόγος σοφοῦ = subject ("a word of wisdom")
σόφος = predicate

4) Greek can omit the verb "to be" if the meaning is considered clear from the context.
νηπίου λόγοι = subject (again, translate the genitive with "of")
σοφοί = predicate
οὔ ποτε = "not ever"

Stick "is/are" in between subject and predicate for both sentences and you're good to go.

2 and 3 are not complete sentences, which makes it difficult to translate.
ἀνθρώπων ψυχάs = think about the exact meaning & part of speech of the individual words here. Psyche is an noun, not an adjective, so "lively" men doesn't work. Try: "the souls of men"

Can I ask what textbook you're using? Hansen & Quinn?

btw for typing in Greek you might try out this neat little page:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tayl0010/polyton ... utter.html
IPHIGENIE: Kann uns zum Vaterland die Fremde werden?
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)

Anjelous
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Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:13 pm

Re: Translation help real quick

Post by Anjelous »

Thanks so much for your reply, that was very helpful and exact what I was looking for! In the morning I'll review that section and get a better grasp of it.

The book I'm using is A Reading Course in Homeric Greek Book One by Raymond V. Schoder.

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