Sunday, July 12, 2009

From Greek and Latin

This is a quote from Luke when Christ compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed that sprouts forth and becomes a giving tree (Luke 13:19). The verse already exists in both Greek and Latin, which will make translation fairly easy. I'll do a direct translation from both languages such that the comparisons can be seen. Then I'll combine them into a third possible translation with roots from both languages.

Greek - ομοια εστιν κοκκω σιναπεως ον λαβων ανθρωπος εβαλεν εις κηπον εαυτου και ηυξησεν και εγενετο εις δενδρον μεγα και τα πετεινα του ουρανου κατεσκηνωσεν εν τοις κλαδοις αυτου

Vulgare 1 - homoea est ad cocco sinapis ho, echente lambanomeno, anthrope e-balat eis cepo heauti cae e-auxesat cae e-genat eis dendro megalo cae peteinos urani e-catascenosant in clades auti.

Latin - simile est grano sinapis quod acceptum homo misit in hortum suum et crevit et factum est in arborem magnam et volucres caeli requieverunt in ramis eius.

Vulgare 2 - simile est ad grano sinapis quo, accepto, homine misit eis horto suo et crevit et facto fuit eis arbore magna et volucres caeli requievent in rames ei.

There are probably a number of mistakes above. Interestingly, the exercise came up with the same word for the genitive of mustard - sinapis. Furthermore, I used the preposition eis in the Latin translation to get the sense of movement into which is lost when one loses the Latin accusative case. The Greek original uses the aorist form for all the verbs, which I tried to maintain. However, since Vulgare doesn't have an aorist active participle, I used echente lambanomeno, having taken, which may seem very bulky. Also, having the recurrent past marker e- seems unnecessary if the context is known, so they may not be necessary.

Here's another translation which may mix elements of the Greek and the Latin:

Homoea est ad grano sinapis quo, accepto, anthrope misit eis cepo suo cae auxesat cae genat eis dendro magno cae volucres urani catascenosant in clades ei.

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