After ~8 years of learning Greek, Wilson’s Harry Potter is finally readable to me (that is, I can read it fast and generally pick up the unknown words from context, missing a chunk here or there). It came in for me at about the same time as Herodotus did, if that’s any help for anyone.
I can’t really say how close the Greek version is to the English, as I haven’t read the original since it came out. I would expect that it is an extremely close translation. Still, judged entirely as its own thing, I find that it’s a lot of fun.
One thing that has been bugging me, however, and that I’ve been trying to put my finger on, is how different the language feels from what I’ve read before. It’s not exactly a matter of style. The language itself feels natural and fluent. The vocabulary additions are all necessary to make the story work and are not very intrusive. It’s that the reading experience itself feels different.
My best guess is that it comes down to the book being so concrete and visual. It’s concerned with events and the material world in a way that’s different from anything else that I’ve read. There is simply a lot of description of the physical world and physical actions at a level of detail that doesn’t seem to happen very often in Greek. I found myself thinking about how the Onomasticon felt, though it’s a different sort of thing. It’s a real vocabulary workout.
I’ll try to quote some bits that I assume are Wilson’s own as I see them. I have already missed a number of them. Here is one from page 52:
καὶ πρὸς σταθμὸν ἀφικόμενοι ἔγνωσαν ἁμαξοστοιχίαν Λονδίνονδε ἐντὸς ὀλίγου μέλλειν ἀφορμήσειν. ἁμαξοστοιχία γὰρ ἢ τρένο καλεῖται τέρας τι σιδηροῦν καὶ πύρπνουν οἷον ἐξ αὐτομάτου ἐπὶ τροχίαις σιδηραῖς τρέχειν ἀτμῷ χρώμενον πρὸς τὸ κινεῖσθαι καθάπερ αἱ αἰολίπυλαι αἱ τοῦ Ἥρωος τοῦ Ἀλεξανδρέως. Καὶ τὸ τρένο τοῦτο σύρει ἁμάξας πολλὰς ἐφ’ ὧν οἱ νῦν πανταχόσε τῆς χώρας ὀχοῦνται, ἀναβαίνοντες καὶ καταβαίνοντες ἐν τοῖς σταθμοῖς σιδηροδρομικοῖς. ὁ δ’ οὖν Ἁγριώδης…
I didn’t know what the referenced Gates of Alexander were until I looked them up on Wikipedia. Here is Historia Alexandri Magni recension ε, 39.6:
Παραχρῆμα δὲ συνῆλθον τὰ ὄρη ἀλλήλοις ὡς ἀπὸ πηχῶν διεστάναι δώδεκα. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ θεασάμενος τὸ γεγονὸς ἐδόξασε τὸν θεόν. καὶ ἔκτισε πύλας χαλκᾶς καὶ τὸ στενόπορον τῶν δύο ὀρέων ἠσφαλίσατο καὶ περιέχρισεν ἀσυκείτῳ. ἡ δὲ φύσις τοῦ ἀσυκείτου ἐστὶν τοιάδε· οὔτε πυρὶ καιόμενον, οὔτε σιδήρῳ προσαπτόμενον. ἔνδοθεν δὲ τῶν δύο πυλῶν καὶ μέχρι τῆς εὐρυχωρίας ὡσεὶ μίλια τρισχίλια βάτον ἐφύτευσεν ἥτις ἀρδευθεῖσα τοῖς ὄρεσιν ὑπερεκόμασεν.
Another was just before this:
…ἀλλὰ καὶ δακτυλοδεικτῶν ἀεὶ τὰ ἐν ὁδῷ ἐγκύκλια οἷον παρκόμετρο ἐβόα λέγων ὅτι Ἰδού, ὦ Ἅρειε· τῆς τῶν Μυγάλων εὐμηχανίας. παρκόμετρο γὰρ καλοῦσιν οἱ νῦν Ἕρμην ποιόν τινα ἐν ἄστει· ἔστι τοῖς ἀργύριον πολὺ διδοῦσι τὰ αὐτοκίνητα ὀχήματα παρ’ αὐτῷ ἐγκαταλείπειν ῥητὸν χρόνον.
A sort of Herm!
I haven’t noticed any similar exuberances since the above (though it’s easily possible that I have missed some). However I suspect the original did not have “like a deus ex machina” here:
pg. 121 Οὔτε Κάρκινος, ἔφη, οὔτε Κέρκωψ πάρεστιν ὥσπερ δαίμων τις ἀπὸ μηχανῆς ῥυσόμενός σε.
You’re quite inspiring me to get this book, Joel.
It has definitely been a fun way to pick up a lot of vocabulary quickly. Wilson has a very clear style, but is not at all simplistic.
pg. 137 καὶ ἔδωκε τῷ Ἁρείῳ ῥόπαλόν τι μικρὸν οὐ πολὺ διαφέρον τοῦ τῆς σφαιριστικῆς ἣν αἱ παρ’ ἡμῖν παρθένοι παίζουσι.
I can’t tell whether this is a sly reference to Nausicaa or original, but I will assume the first unless someone wants to prove me wrong. (EDIT: But this is a ball and bat game, I suppose. Maybe the UK has something like that primarily played by girls.)
pg. 169
ἔσοπτρον δ᾿ ἦν…ἐν δ᾿ ἄκρῳ ἐπίγραμμα τοιόνδε κεχαραγμένον·
ΝΑΙ ΜΥΘΙ ΠΕΣΑΙ ΔΡΑΚΝΗ ΤΑΛΛΑ ΝΙΨΟΝ Η ΤΟΥ ΩΝΙΑΦ
I couldn’t make heads or tails of this, until I took a harder look at the last word. The ΟΥ is unfortunate, but I suppose it’s excused by the “τοιόνδε”.
pg. 182
ἰδοῦσα δὲ τὸν Ἅρειον κάτω πεσόντα ὥσπερ ἀπὸ σφενδόνης ἐξερριπισμένον ἔλαθε τρίς εἰς κόλπον πτύσασα.
Finished it, though the last third of the book was a bit of a slog. For some reason, the pile of incident in the last chapters was just not that enjoyable. Kipling (who should know) writes about the different Oriental versus Occidental manner of telling a story. Greek may fit the first better. It has been a relief to pick up other authors from time to time and to enjoy their flow. The bedside narrative in the last chapter seemed to work better than the preceding chapters. And the beginning third of the book, at least, was magical. Wilson is certainly gifted at this.
I found out the same thing as a friend who read Harry Potter in French: it is a wonderful way to pick up a lot of vocabulary quickly. It’s probably worth another read just for that reason, but I’m not sure that I have it in me. Then again, I’ll probably need to read it aloud to my kids at some point.
I’ve ordered the Winnie-the-Pooh mentioned in another thread, though I am sort of dreading what I’ll find. It’s hard to imagine that it will be as well done as Wilson. Though I believe that I saw one of the translator’s papers on verbs at some point, and it had good information, I think.
That is a great experience to read modern things in ancient greek. I, as a Chinese, sometimes want to translate some Chinese things into ancient Greek.