How would you translate the following? The theme of the passage is “The Medicine for Grief.”
What bothers me is the genitive case for ‘grief’ and how to translate it. Is it like the theme…for grief
or something else like…of grief?
λύπη, grief
ἰατρός, physician
ἄνθρωπος, ὁ, ἡ, human being
λόγος, word, speech
ψυχή, soul, life
μόνος, alone
ἔχω, have
θελκτήριον, charm
λέγω, speak
οἱ πάλαι, the ancients, the men of old
ἀστεῖος, nice, refined, elegant, pretty, witty, clever
φάρμακον, physic, remedy, cure, a drug, medicine
χρήσιμος, useful
My attempt at a translation:
A physician for grief is to people a word;
for this alone has a charm for the soul;
but the wisest men of old speak that
it is a clever remedy and useful.
Am I off the mark here in translating it somewhat as an objective genitive?
In English, “doctor of grief” and “doctor for grief” mean pretty much the same thing to me, so I’m not sure what distinction you think that there might be in the Greek.
For the rest of your translation, try “speech” for λόγος. Despite what you’ve read in John, λόγος isn’t ever really the equivalent of simple English “a word.”
You need to change the word order of the first line for English. “Speech is the doctor of grief to men” or that sort of thing. Charms plural. δὲ is “and” instead of “but.”
And I’m glad that you’re enjoying Rouse! Get in touch with me if you’re interested in trying any of the conversation lessons over Skype.
I was thinking two things here. First, ‘for’ is usually associated with a dative case and confused me in the Theme. Second, I was trying to justify ‘for’ if the genitive was an objective genitive of which I was not sure of. Stepping back, I see your point. I guess my question is what kind of genitive is it?
Speech is better, thanks.
Is it “Speech is a doctor of grief to men” or Speech is the doctor of grief to men"? Putting a definite article in an anarthrous construction has always made me feel insecure. Your word order is better than mine. Yes, ‘charms’, not ‘charm’…‘and’, not ‘but’, thanks. Is it “charms of a soul” or “charms for a soul” or something else?
The last line confuses me a little. Is it “it is a nice remedy and useful” or “it is a nice and useful remedy”?
My corrected translation is so far:
Speech is a/the doctor of grief to men;
for this alone has charms of/for? a soul;
and the wisest men of old say that
it is a nice and useful remedy.
Well, it’s a predicate noun, so see Smyth 1150 (predicate nouns have no article). I had never read Smyth 1150 until I looked it up just now – that’s what you get from reading a lot. λόγος also has no article, and it’s something along the line of Smyth 1132, I would think.
As far as “charms” go, he means that this is the only thing with power to beguile the soul. I don’t recall exactly, but I think that this word is debatable in the original.
Both of your suggestions seem to capture the last line, with the first being closer to the structure of the Greek.
With θελκτήρια, think of spoken magical charms or spells that a doctor would use. Things that enchant, beguile, or soothe. Charms for the soul. I believe that Rouse suggests memorizing this verse from Menander, and it’s not bad advice.
My phone’s dictionary didn’t have “beguile”! What a world.
I can’t see a doctor using spells and I am not saying they didn’t,
but I do see a doctor or anybody else beguiling or diverting people
who suffer from grief with words to soothe and heal the brokenhearted.
Words are powerful medicine to divert one’s focus from the negative
to the positive to avert further casualties. Your last post provoked me
to look at the meaning and to get out of my translation box. Thanks.