ἔν νῶ ἔχω τίνα; (Ancient Greek 20 questions)

Composition and Communication The Agora
41

οὐχ

42
  1. ἆρα Κλέων ἐστί?
43

ναί, τετόξευκας τὸν σκοπόν :smiley:

44

With 3 questions to spare, (2, if you count mwh’s guess.)

I have to say I enjoyed it. It did take a while (stretched over three days.) Again, it would have gone quicker in real time, but that would have required maybe an hour of full concentration which I often don’t have.

Maybe not the most efficient way to learn Greek (I will concede that if the time spent on this game was spent reading Greek it may have increased fluency more.) But if you are going to play a game like this, you might as well play it in Greek.

What did I learn about Greek from playing the game? The word κοπροφάγος, certainly, and I did not realize how many names are declined like Socrates. But Krashen would say the purpose of the game is not to learn about Greek but to acquire it, and that the comprehensible input and communicate need of the game would trigger such.

45

Well I can’t say that I actually learnt that προ means before and not as I read it yesterday as “in the same as” because I sort of knew it before but now I don’t reckon I’ll ever forget. It wasn’t real time but during the times we were both online I did feel the pressure to reply quickly so it was much more like a conversation than the weather thread. Not allowing myself time to analyse did mean I made that mistake with προ but it did mean I was reading rather than decoding so it very useful for me. And it seems that that quite serious mistake didn’t spoil it for you.

Thanks for playing. Would you like to choose a person?

46

I work 3 12 hours shifts and then I have 4 days off. I am about to start my work week tonight, so I will be out of pocket until Sat or Sunday. I’d love to choose a person then. In the meantime, maybe someone else will want to do one? I have time to monitor posts during my work week but not much time to post myself.

47

No rush. Indeed I wasn’t really thinking of immediatly as at this very moment I am off to bed.
I look forward to it when you can.

48

εῦγε ω Μᾶρκε! απόνως νενίκηκας. ουκ ην ἄρα Σωκρατης εκεινος ὃν ο Δαουιδ εν νω εἶχεν, ουδ’ Ιππιας (ὁ υπο ΑΡμοδιου και ΑΡιστογειτου φονευθείς), ουδ Εφιαλτης, ουδε Νικιας. But they were all possibilities on the info we had at the time, and good ones I thought. But of course all of them wrong!

I hope the two of you will forgive me joining in from the sidelines. I thought I’d throw in a few bits of fun (and real-sounding) Greek for you and incorporate a few tacit corrections (e.g. Σωκράτους not Σωκράτου; and note ἄρα an inferential particle, not 1st-word ἆρα interrogative).

Happy New Year!

PS. Now what does πρό mean again? :smiley:

49

I especially liked μάχομαι be used in the sense of contradict. However, being more like real Greek it was lot harder for me. :frowning: But yes, it was useful nudge away from anglo-Greek.

50

I’m thinking of a famous person, not necessarily from Greek antiquity.

51
  1. ἐτέχθη ἐν Ευρωπῇ οὗτος;
  2. ἆρα ἦν/ἐστί θήλεια;
  3. ἔγραψε τι κλυτόν;
  4. ἆρα οὗτος ἀπέθανεν πρὸ τοῦ συστάσεως πόλεως Αμερικας προγράμματος αὐτονομίας;

σύστασις πόλεως Αμερικας= U.S.A.

52

ναί.

  1. ἆρα ἦν/ἐστί θήλεια;

οὐ.

  1. ἔγραψε τι κλυτόν;

ού.

  1. ἆρα οὗτος ἀπέθανεν πρὸ τοῦ συστάσεως πόλεως Αμερικας προγράμματος αὐτονομίας;

σύστασις πόλεως Αμερικας= U.S.A

οὐ.

53

5. ἐτέχθη ἐν χώρᾳ νοτίως ἐκ Ρώμης οὗτος;
6 ἆρα οὗτος ἔτι ζῶ;
7. ἆρα ἦν/ἐστί ἄρχων;
8. τὴν γλῶσσαν τὴν ἐκ Βρεττανικάς λαλεῖ ὡς ἐκ μήτρός;

54

οὐ. βορρᾶς τῆς Ρώμης.

6 ἆρα οὗτος ἔτι ζῶ;

ναί.

7. ἆρα ἦν/ἐστί ἄρχων;

πάνυ γε. ναί.

8. τὴν γλῶσσαν τὴν ἐκ Βρεττανικάς λαλεῖ ὡς ἐκ μήτρός;

οὐχί.

μόνον δώδεκα ἐρρωτήματα λείπει. νομίζω οὖν νικήσειν δή.

55

9. ἐτέχθη ἐν χώρᾳ ἑσπέρα ἐκ βυζαντιου.
10. ἆρα ἐστὶ ἄρχων μεγάλης χωρας;

56

ναί, ἀλλὰ μόνον ὀλίγον ἐσπέρα.

10. ἆρα ἐστὶ ἄρχων μεγάλης χωρας;

ναί.

57

11. ἆρα ἐστὶ Πυτιν;

58

ναί. ὁ Πῦτιν εἶχον ἐν νῶ. νικᾷς οὖν σύγε.

11 questions, not bad.

St. Petersburg ( I wonder when they will rename it “Putingrad”) is almost due north of Istanbul.

59

You were very helpful with your answers so I claim too much credit. The “πάνυ γε. ναί.” in answer to whether he was an archon was a big clue. There is a big gray area of what constitutes an archon for me (A president is an archon, perhaps a prime minister but is a cabinet minister or a one of eight Athenian generals?) but no one in Europe is more unambiguously an archon today.

Thanks for the game.

60

If Daivid or anyone else wants to start another game over the next couple of days, think of a person or an object.