[B-Greek] translation for O POPOI ??

Jack Kilmon jkilmon at historian.net
Thu Jan 13 02:33:13 EST 2011



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From: "Shirley Rollinson" <rollinsondr at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 5:38 PM
To: <B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; <davidmckay52 at gmail.com>; 
<jkilmon at historian.net>
Subject: translation for O POPOI ??

> Yassas Y'all
> Could Jack or David, or anyone else, come up with a good translation for O 
> POPOI ?
> The dictionaries suggest "Alas. alack, woe is me" etc. - But it's used by 
> a rough tough Bronze Age soldier facing certain death (Hector) - not by a 
> prim and proper Victorian lady.
> My students came up with a range of (unprintable) equivalents - but does 
> anyone know what a POPOS really was ?
> thank you
> Shirley Rollinson
> New Mexico (just 10 miles from Texas)



"ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται
O popoi, hoion de nu theous brotoi aitioontai: ex hemeon gar phasi kak'
emmenai, hoi de kai autoi spheisin atasthalieisin huper moron alge echousin
(“My word. how mortals take the gods to task! All their afflictions come
from us, we hear. And what of their own failings? Greed and folly double the
double the suffering in the lot of man

Remembering that Attic Greek may have a different idiom than Koine and
Modern Greek, I think context drives the meaning through a range from "My
word!" or much like "Oi Vey" to "Oh shit!"

Jack Kilmon
 




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