I LOVE LOVE LOVE ANCIENT GREEK!!!!
Oct. 3rd, 2002 11:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rushthatspeaksEn arche ain ho logos, kai ho logos ain pros ton theon, kai theos ain ho logos-- outos ain en arche pros ton theon.
-- The Gospel According to John, Chapter 1
There is no way I can even attempt to describe the sheer and absolute cooltitude of this sentence, except to say that I think it may be the most beautifully structured sentence I have ever seen in any language. It is commonly translated as the whole 'In the beginning was the Word' bit, but the nuances, the nuances-- 'arche', for example, means both 'beginning' and 'rule' or 'empire'. So it is equally valid to say 'In the beginning there was the word' and 'The word was in a state of ruling'. Then you get the fact that 'logos', which does mean 'word', also means every sort of word ever used by human beings, stories, ideas, thought as distinguished from action. Then there's the fact that 'pros', which means 'toward, with, in the presence of', also means 'in the eyes of, in the name of', and, I mean, one possible translation of this sentence, which in no way encapsulates the entirety of its meanings, is:
"Thought and Story were ruling from the beginning, and were in the eyes of God, in the name of God, and in the presence of God, and were God, so that God was from the beginning and was ruling from the beginning."
That's just the meanings. That's not the structure. If I go into the sheer gorgeous simplicity of the words and word repetitions of the structure of this sentence, we will be here all year. Except to say that the entire paragraph I just translated above is expressed using three nouns, three prepositions, one article, one particle, and one verb (a form of 'to be').
I love inflected languages.
On that note, I've been reading waaay too much untranslated manga lately, considering that I don't actually speak Japanese. A. lent me the first volume of 'The Ice-Cold Demon's Tale'. It is just as insanely cool as the six separate people who recommended it to me collectively insisted. It has also not been translated out of Japanese at all, and I know it would kick my ass if I tried to translate it, because A. spent last year in Japan and a great deal of time there reading manga and she has trouble (there are priests. They use Buddhist jargon. Buddhist jargon is esoteric and untranslateable). However. It is just so cool. If you crossed Yami no Matsuei and Saiyuki, and made it funny, you might approach the coolness of this manga. (Oddly enough, that's about what the art looks like, too.)
I did have enough Japanese to get through about the first thirty pages, which are the setup.
So there's a demon, see. And he was trapped in a giant block of ice by some priests generations ago, in a cave. He eats anybody for breakfast who happens to walk into the cave, using his Eerie Powers, but his Eerie Powers aren't strong enough to lure people in, so he only gets actual food every twenty years or so, and he's starving and pissed at the world.
This guy wanders into the cave. He combines the sweeter aspects of the personalities of Tsuzuki from YnM and Shuuichi from Gravi with a deep and serene calm. It's scary. But cool. He runs into the demon. The demon pins him to the wall with Eerie Powers and starts mentally debating between sandwiches and stew.
Guy pinned to wall: Oh, cool! There really is a demon of the cave! My grandmother always said there was, but I didn't believe her! That's so neat! What's your name?
Demon: What part of 'I am going to slowly dismember you now' did you not understand?
Guy pinned to wall: You're using Eerie Powers on me! I didn't know Eerie Powers actually existed! That's so cool! You are so cool!
Demon: I don't think you're getting this. See, I'm menacing (menaces) and you panic. Then I kill you. Slowly and painfully. Because I'm evil like that. Then I go back to my angst-ridden eternal imprisonment in this block of ice.
Guy pinned to wall: You're trapped in there?! What can I do about it? I've got to help you get out. That is so wrong.
Demon: Don't you realize I'd still kill you even if I got loose? You're not helping yourself here.
Guy pinned to wall: Do you honestly think I care? You shouldn't have to be imprisoned like that.
Demon: DAMMIT, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND EAT YOUR SOUL! DOESN'T THIS GET THROUGH TO YOU IN ANY WAY? AREN'T YOU UPSET?
Guy pinned to wall: And? Everybody dies eventually, right? I have a terminal disease anyway, so I may as well be some good to somebody. Go ahead. I should care? It might make you feel better. Now, how can we get you down out of that ice?
Demon (thinking):...You're weird. And insane. And have the self-preservation instincts of a bunny rabbit. I do not understand. I can't kill you until I figure out how the hell your tiny little human mind works.
Guy pinned to wall: (faints from having paid no attention to his terminal disease on having realized it was terminal and there was nothing he could do).
Demon: Well, damn. (Revives him with demonic Eerie Powers, and is released from block of ice because of having done something selfless and genuinely good. Said demonic Eerie Powers will, however, need upkeep, and will hurt the demon if they fail without being formally retracted. Demon realizes he is stuck following this guy around. But hey, the guy is at least interestingly unpredictable.)
Guy no longer pinned to wall: (Wakes up.) You're out of the ice! Great!
Demon: *muttered swearing* *explosive annoyance* Right. So where are we going?
And they wander off, being insanely cute together in a very shounen-ai sort of way even though the demon is still looking for somebody to eat for breakfast.
End set-up.
J-chan, if you translate this, I will be insanely grateful to you for ever and ever and ever. Pleeeeaase?
Angst-O-Meter: 0
-- The Gospel According to John, Chapter 1
There is no way I can even attempt to describe the sheer and absolute cooltitude of this sentence, except to say that I think it may be the most beautifully structured sentence I have ever seen in any language. It is commonly translated as the whole 'In the beginning was the Word' bit, but the nuances, the nuances-- 'arche', for example, means both 'beginning' and 'rule' or 'empire'. So it is equally valid to say 'In the beginning there was the word' and 'The word was in a state of ruling'. Then you get the fact that 'logos', which does mean 'word', also means every sort of word ever used by human beings, stories, ideas, thought as distinguished from action. Then there's the fact that 'pros', which means 'toward, with, in the presence of', also means 'in the eyes of, in the name of', and, I mean, one possible translation of this sentence, which in no way encapsulates the entirety of its meanings, is:
"Thought and Story were ruling from the beginning, and were in the eyes of God, in the name of God, and in the presence of God, and were God, so that God was from the beginning and was ruling from the beginning."
That's just the meanings. That's not the structure. If I go into the sheer gorgeous simplicity of the words and word repetitions of the structure of this sentence, we will be here all year. Except to say that the entire paragraph I just translated above is expressed using three nouns, three prepositions, one article, one particle, and one verb (a form of 'to be').
I love inflected languages.
On that note, I've been reading waaay too much untranslated manga lately, considering that I don't actually speak Japanese. A. lent me the first volume of 'The Ice-Cold Demon's Tale'. It is just as insanely cool as the six separate people who recommended it to me collectively insisted. It has also not been translated out of Japanese at all, and I know it would kick my ass if I tried to translate it, because A. spent last year in Japan and a great deal of time there reading manga and she has trouble (there are priests. They use Buddhist jargon. Buddhist jargon is esoteric and untranslateable). However. It is just so cool. If you crossed Yami no Matsuei and Saiyuki, and made it funny, you might approach the coolness of this manga. (Oddly enough, that's about what the art looks like, too.)
I did have enough Japanese to get through about the first thirty pages, which are the setup.
So there's a demon, see. And he was trapped in a giant block of ice by some priests generations ago, in a cave. He eats anybody for breakfast who happens to walk into the cave, using his Eerie Powers, but his Eerie Powers aren't strong enough to lure people in, so he only gets actual food every twenty years or so, and he's starving and pissed at the world.
This guy wanders into the cave. He combines the sweeter aspects of the personalities of Tsuzuki from YnM and Shuuichi from Gravi with a deep and serene calm. It's scary. But cool. He runs into the demon. The demon pins him to the wall with Eerie Powers and starts mentally debating between sandwiches and stew.
Guy pinned to wall: Oh, cool! There really is a demon of the cave! My grandmother always said there was, but I didn't believe her! That's so neat! What's your name?
Demon: What part of 'I am going to slowly dismember you now' did you not understand?
Guy pinned to wall: You're using Eerie Powers on me! I didn't know Eerie Powers actually existed! That's so cool! You are so cool!
Demon: I don't think you're getting this. See, I'm menacing (menaces) and you panic. Then I kill you. Slowly and painfully. Because I'm evil like that. Then I go back to my angst-ridden eternal imprisonment in this block of ice.
Guy pinned to wall: You're trapped in there?! What can I do about it? I've got to help you get out. That is so wrong.
Demon: Don't you realize I'd still kill you even if I got loose? You're not helping yourself here.
Guy pinned to wall: Do you honestly think I care? You shouldn't have to be imprisoned like that.
Demon: DAMMIT, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND EAT YOUR SOUL! DOESN'T THIS GET THROUGH TO YOU IN ANY WAY? AREN'T YOU UPSET?
Guy pinned to wall: And? Everybody dies eventually, right? I have a terminal disease anyway, so I may as well be some good to somebody. Go ahead. I should care? It might make you feel better. Now, how can we get you down out of that ice?
Demon (thinking):...You're weird. And insane. And have the self-preservation instincts of a bunny rabbit. I do not understand. I can't kill you until I figure out how the hell your tiny little human mind works.
Guy pinned to wall: (faints from having paid no attention to his terminal disease on having realized it was terminal and there was nothing he could do).
Demon: Well, damn. (Revives him with demonic Eerie Powers, and is released from block of ice because of having done something selfless and genuinely good. Said demonic Eerie Powers will, however, need upkeep, and will hurt the demon if they fail without being formally retracted. Demon realizes he is stuck following this guy around. But hey, the guy is at least interestingly unpredictable.)
Guy no longer pinned to wall: (Wakes up.) You're out of the ice! Great!
Demon: *muttered swearing* *explosive annoyance* Right. So where are we going?
And they wander off, being insanely cute together in a very shounen-ai sort of way even though the demon is still looking for somebody to eat for breakfast.
End set-up.
J-chan, if you translate this, I will be insanely grateful to you for ever and ever and ever. Pleeeeaase?
Angst-O-Meter: 0
