[B-Greek] "Crossing the Rubicon" (learning Greek NOT in English)
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 20 08:26:05 EDT 2007
I don't happen to do a lot of talking with my hands, but when I see MEN … DE I generally think of "Fiddler on the Roof" where Tevya ends up with about 6 "other hands." It does seem humorous.
george
gfsomsel
Therefore, O faithful Christian, search for truth, hear truth,
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
defend the truth till death.
- Jan Hus
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----- Original Message ----
From: "frjsilver at optonline.net" <frjsilver at optonline.net>
To: Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
Cc: B-Greek B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 7:13:38 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] "Crossing the Rubicon" (learning Greek NOT in English)
It was a delightful moment, a rare treat, to read the original article, and I thank Carl Conrad for sharing it here.
In poetry, ancient as well as modern, Greek or otherwise, we often find little syllables added or subtracted for the sake of meter, when meter is a consideration.
Rather than get snagged on some of these -- most of which actually DO mean something if we get fussy about it -- I recommend that we think of them more as gestures or facial expressions, 'body language' so to speak.
Thinking of this, I laughed out loud at the reference to MEN...DE as 'on one hand...but on the other' as I could feel myself raising my hands and pointing -- I'd be mute if my hands were tied!
No matter the genre, reading the classics is NOT a chore, it's a joy which -- for me, at least, carries over well into patristic literature and especially the liturgical hymns whose elevated art I often fail to capture in the translations I must do. Ah, sweet rhetoric!
Sometimes, I think it would be easier -- and maybe somehow better -- just to teach everybody to read and sing in Greek rather than weaken the impact of the original text and dilute poetry's fragrance, which simply evaporates, dissipated in the unfamiliar atmosphere, its art vanished all but its bleached bones, helplessly embarrassed by their bareness in the glare of our rude gaze.
Father James Silver
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