Since I’ve finally finished my self-taught course in Ancient Greek, I’ve been having fun experimenting with the language! My first extended composition (i.e. more than a couple random sentences) is a song translation/adaptation that I’d like to share in case anyone has any critiques/suggestions (please don’t hold back). My goal, as always, was to strike the delicate balance between staying as faithful as possible to the meaning and maintaining the beat, melody, and rhyme scheme.
Perhaps appropriately, the guinea pig for my first foray into Ancient Greek lyrics is a song from Disney’s “Hercules.” A college-level classics student (I’m just an enthusiastic autodidact) who also translates/adapts popular songs seemed to like it, so maybe you will too!
NOTE: Words with no diacritics except for a single macron are presumed to have the appropriate accent (acute or grave) on the syllable bearing the macron.
ΤΗΝ ΟΔΟΝ ΠΩ ΤΕΛΩ
“Go the Distance” εν τῇ Αρχαίᾳ Ἑλληνικῇ Γλώσσῃ
Τόπον δὴ ὁρῶ
εν ὁνείροις μου
οὗ ὑποδέκονται
μ’ήδη ὡς ἥρων,
οὗ τὸ πλῆθος πᾶν
περὶ εμοὶ χαίρει,
καί με φωνὴ λέγει
ῆχθαι ὑπò τῆς μοίρᾱς.
Ένθα ποθ’ ἥξω.
Τὴν ὁδόν πω τελῶ.
Τρόπον εὑρήσω
εᾱν μέγας ῶ.
Αξιῶ τοῦ χρόνου
πᾶν σταδίον οῦν,
μέχρι ἥκω ὅπου
αληθῶς πρέπῃ μ’εῖναι.
Νῦν καινῇ ὁδῷ
πρὸς τὴν τύχην μου,
τάχα φανώμενος,
ὅμως παρὰ σ’εῖμι.
Καὶ κίλιοι γ’έτων
νῑκην αξιώσω.
Ει αιῶνα μένοι,
καίτοι ὰν δὴ νῑκῷμι.
Τὰ πάλαι λείψω.
Τὴν ὁδόν πω τελῶ.
Ουκ, ούθ’ ὑπείξω,
ούτ’ εμαυτὸν απολῶ.
Αναβαίνειν δεῖ,
αλλ’ ελπὶς μενεῖ,
πρὶν τὴν πορείᾱν μου
παντελῶς τετελέκω.
Ου’ γὰρ κλεῷ αλλὰ τῇ αυτοῦ καρδίᾳ
ἥ τοι ἥρω δύναμις μὴν μετρεῖται.
Ὡς αστὴρ πῑπτων,
τὴν ὁδόν πω τελῶ.
Διὰ τῆς πᾱσης γῆς
κρατήσω βλαβῶν.
Ὅσον ὰν απῶ,
τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ τελῶ,
πρίν με τέλος ὑποδέχῃ
σύπερ ὡς ἥρων.
Διὰ τῆς πᾱσης γῆς
κρατήσω βλαβῶν,
πρίν με τέλος ὑποδέχῃ
σύπερ ὡς ἥρων.
I also made a video on YouTube where these lyrics appear as subtitles in the original music video. If you’re interested, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq8kZX3ru4U