Translation Help Thread

[Seika]

ohh, so βασιλεὺς βασιλέων do literally mean king of kings to begin with then?

Yeah. Pretty standard ME title at the time.

So the original is surprisingly less chuuni.

It's still pretty grandiose. I dunno, does "let them surpass any one of my works" (which is a bit more literal) get it across better? I was being a little fancy with 'wrought' to try to convey that.

And elsewhere in the complex ...

καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὸν πρῶτον τῶν τοίχων τὸν βασιλέα κατεσκευάσθαι πολιορκοῦντα τεῖχος ὑπὸ ποταμοῦ περίρρυτον καὶ προκινδυνεύοντα πρός τινας ἀντιτεταγμένους μετὰ λέοντος, συναγωνιζομένου τοῦ θηρίου καταπληκτικῶς: ὑπὲρ οὗ τῶν ἐξηγουμένων οἱ μὲν ἔφασαν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν χειροήθη λέοντα τρεφόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως συγκινδυνεύειν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὰς μάχας καὶ τροπὴν ποιεῖν τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τὴν ἀλκήν, τινὲς δ᾽ ἱστόρουν ὅτι καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ἀνδρεῖος ὢν καὶ φορτικῶς ἑαυτὸν ἐγκωμιάζειν βουλόμενος, διὰ τῆς τοῦ λέοντος εἰκόνος τὴν διάθεσιν ἑαυτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐσήμαινεν.

And on the first of the walls, he says, the King is shown besieging a citadel which is moated by a river, and leading the vanguard against his foes alongside a lion: the wild beast fights with him to most striking effect. Of those who interpret this, some say that in truth a tame lion, whom the king had reared, ventured forth with the king in his battles and that it routed his enemies by its might. Others' investigations say that this is hyperbole: the king wanted to clumsily praise himself for his bravery and, as such, he represented the form of his soul by way of an image of a lion.

[castor212]

pardon my ignorance about this matter but

why are those are written in greek and not egypt?

[Canon]

Because Diodorus was a Greek dude

[Kotonoha]

[Seika]

"On the pedestal", c'mon, random Tumblr person.

[Kotonoha]

Are you criticizing ozzy, the greatest literary work of the 21st century

[GundamFSN]

It's still pretty grandiose. I dunno, does "let them surpass any one of my works" (which is a bit more literal) get it across better? I was being a little fancy with 'wrought' to try to convey that.

Ah, no. I was not referring to your translation - which is good, imo. I was noting how the "Ye Mighty and despair." part is nonexistent, hence less chuuni. But still chuuni.

[Lianru]

You gotta make your rhymes somehow.

[Arashi_Leonhart]

pardon my ignorance about this matter but

why are those are written in greek and not egypt?

Why is Beowulf written in Old English rather than a Swedish or Danish language? Why is the New Testament written in a Hellenistic Greek language rather than Hebrew? Why is there FSN fanfiction written in English rather than Japanese?

[castor212]

Yeah, why?

- - - Updated - - -

Ok in al srsness i just want to know whats the background of it being a greek writing surely it aint that much of a sin

[Arashi_Leonhart]

My joke was alluding to the reason, if you actually think about it.

[SpoonyViking]

Ok in al srsness i just want to know whats the background of it being a greek writing surely it aint that much of a sin

It's not my area of expertise, but when it comes to Ancient Egypt, most of the surviving textual records are from Greek / Hellenic authors, not Egyptian ones.

[castor212]

I thought about it

Ok i dont get it

Shit

[GundamFSN]

You should think harder.

[Lianru]

(hint: greek dude was a ramesses fanboy and made his own fanfiction)

[GundamFSN]

Or remember Five's lesson on myth.

[Seika]

I thought about it

Ok i dont get it

Shit

Because Diodorus was a Greek dude

It's not my area of expertise, but when it comes to Ancient Egypt, most of the surviving textual records are from Greek / Hellenic authors, not Egyptian ones.

Diodoros is the pertinent source, and he was Greek, and the guy he's referencing who saw the monument was Greek. (Hekataios, IIRC). The Greeks had a line in doing travelogues and histories; if the Egyptians were much interested in the same, their writings haven't survived.

[castor212]

*raises hand*

so the statue was egyptian, but it was the greeks who put the inscription?

[Lily Emilio]

*raises hand*

so the statue was egyptian, but it was the greeks who put the inscription?

The statues were made by Egyptians and the inscriptions were in Egyptian. This Greek guy saw it and decided to translate those into Greek so other Greek ppl can understand it without having to learn Egyptian.

I don't know why you still can't get it.

[castor212]

because some source i found on google said the incriprtion itself is in greek

but ok, i get it now