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Phaleran Update: Arkhilokhos' _A Poet's Shield_

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 11, 2001, 22:24
Here's another posting about recent developments in
Phaleran.  This is the Greek lyrical poem that I mentioned
in my last post.  Below are three versions:  the original
Greek, my English translation, and the Phaleran version.
Thereafter are some notes about grammatical structure.

Arkhilokhos (BC c. 680 - c. 640): _A Poet's Shield_

Aspidi men Saio:n tis agalletai, he:n para thamno:i
  entos amo:me:ton kallipon ouk ethelo:n;
autos d'exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeine:
  erreto: !  Exaute:s kte:somai, ou kakio:

Some Thracian is taking enjoyment from my shield, which I
  unwillingly left beside a bush though it was unharmed;
But I was escaping death's grip; to hell with
  that shield! I can get myself another, no worse.

Thallu Saiouþþa garai polwamisses, u?marnagwatenti
  fleruo pou hrontaþnugwandi selc|a;
Aima g|eNgûku twelma sNâsyostai; heotli garai
  tyote'er|ilsta!  Tþon esa sxoramilta, marty' asyu.

Thallu    Saiouþþa[1]  garai      polwamisses,
3SgAIndef Thracian.ABE shield.ABS enjoy.MID.3SgProgRe.C

u?marnagwatenti,         fleruo   pou
damage.REL.NEG.3SgPfRe.S bush.DAT beside

hrontaþnugwandi[2]       selc|a;     Aima[3] g|eNgûku
leave.CAUS.REL.1SgPfRe.S unwillingly however death.DUR

twelma  sNâsyostai;                 heotli[4] garai
end.ABS run-away.TR.1SgProgRe.DYN.S that.INV  shield.ABS

tyolt'er|ilsta!          Tþon esa sxoramilta,
be-absent.INTR.3SgProsIr more one get.MID.1SgProsIr

marty'   asyu. [5]
possibly just

[1] lit. "some particular one out of the Thracians"
[2] Note that English has two forms of "leave" which are
homophonous:  transitive and intransitive.  In Phaleran,
the intransitive one is basic, while the transitive one
is derived by a causative suffix.
[3] _aima_ "but, however" is more strongly asseverative
than _ene_ "but";  its use is much like Georgian _k'i_.
[4] The Phaleran demonstrative system has four dimensions:
physical deixis, visibility, time and formality. _heotli_
here specifically denotes "yon-wretched-invisible-one".
[5] To avoid vowel hiatus, _martei_ has a shortened form
_marty'_.  In such shortened forms generally, the diphthong
reduces to the semivowel version of the highest vowel in
the diphthong.  /i/ is higher than /e/, so the shortform
is /j/.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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