Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Hobbit in Ancient Greek, paragraphs 7-8




Κατὰ ἄτοπην συγκυρίαν πάλαι ἡσύχασης τῆς γῆς ὄντος ἧσσου θόρυβου καὶ οὔσης πλείοντος χλωράς καὶ ὄντων τῶν ὅββιτων πολλῶν τὲ εὔοδοντων, Βίλβου δὲ Βάγινου ἑστῶτος ἐπὶ τήν θύραν αὐτοῦ πρωΐ  ἀριστήσαντος καπνίζοντος μέγιστον αὐλόν ξύλινον ἐκτείναντα σχεδὸν εἰς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ (ἐρεάς  κατάκτενους κόσμιως) Γανδάλφος αὐτός παρῆλθεν. Γανδάλφος! 

[By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed) - Gandalf came by. Gandalf!]

Εἶ ἀκηκόεις μόνον τὸ τετάρτον ὥν ἀκηκόα περὶ τούτου (καὶ ἀκηκόα μόνον τὸ μικρότερον πάντων τῶν δυναμένων ἀκούεσθαι) εἶ ἄν ἕτοιμος εἰς πᾶν θαυμαστον μύθευμα. μύθευματα τε καί τολμήματα ἀνεφύσατο θαυμαστῶς ὅπου ἄν πορευθῇ. χρόνον πολὺν σφόδρα οὐκ εἰσελήλυθεν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ὑπὸ Τοῦ Ὄρους, ἀφ᾽ οὗ ἀπέθανεν ὁ φίλος αὐτοῦ ὁ Τούκ Πρεσβύτης. οἱ ὅββιτοι δὲ σχεδν ἐπελάθοντο τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ. ἀπῄεσεν ὑπὲρ Τὸ Ὄρος καὶ πέραν Τοῦ Ὕδατος τὰ ἴδια πράγματα ἐπιμελόμενος ἀφ᾽ οὗ ἤσαν πάντες μίκροι ὁββίτοπαιδες καί ὁββίτοκορασια.

[If you had heard only a quarter of what I have heard about him, and I have only heard very little of all there is to hear, you would be prepared for any sort I of remarkable tale. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion. He had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died, in fact, and the hobbits had almost forgotten what he looked like. He had been away over The Hill and across The
Water on business of his own since they were all small hobbit-boys and hobbit-girls.]


Translation notes:
  • αὐλός = pipe (a water-pipe in Classical Greek, but used for tobacco-pipe here)
  • ὁββίτοπαις = hobbit-boy
  • ὁββίτοκορασιον = hobbit-girl
  • Γανδάλφος = Gandalf 
  • You can see all of the paragraphs translated so far here.
The book cover shown is a translation of the Hobbit into modern Greek (which is significantly different from Ancient Greek.)

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