# Help to translate a line from Greek



## Lobolover (Jan 2, 2009)

Am reading "Oceanus" by Quiller-Couch and am stuned how educated he expected his readers to be-large quotes in french,latin AND greek,with no translations in site.Seeing as how it might be of some importance,does anyone know what the following lines roughly translate to?

"
[FONT=&quot]    en detithei potamoio mega spenos Okeanoio[/FONT][FONT=&quot]    antyga par pymaten sakeos pyka poietoio . . . ."[/FONT]


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## BookStop (Jan 3, 2009)

Well - i plugged it into a translator and got no results...Are you sure it's greek?


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## j d worthington (Jan 3, 2009)

BookStop said:


> Well - i plugged it into a translator and got no results...Are you sure it's greek?


 
It's Greek, all right, albeit classical Greek, if I'm not mistaken. "Okeanoio" would be enough to tell me that, let alone the mention (in the tale) of the Lidell and Scott. I have a copy of the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon, but my Greek is below rudimentary, I'm afraid. I can sometimes get the gist, but I've never learned the language, I'm sorry to say....


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## The Judge (Jan 3, 2009)

Can't help you with the translation myself, but when I was looking for help with translations last year I found a really good website called, I think, allexperts.com.  One of the experts is a lady called Maria who is a miracle worker, but only if it is Ancient Greek - which I imagine it is if Quiller-Couch is quoting it.  She can help with the Latin too - but you're on your own with the French!

Good luck.

J


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## Lobolover (Jan 4, 2009)

Yes,I didnt say it was ancient greek?
But yes,Its rather strange that he expected a common reader to know four languages,two of them extinct,while reading his tale.


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## j d worthington (Jan 4, 2009)

Not at all, Lobo... not for the time he was writing. This was actually quite common in most literature above the lowest levels until fairly well into the twentieth century. Take a good look at Dunsany, Poe, Hawthorne, Joyce, cummings, Eliot, Maupassant, James, etc., etc., etc. Most places no longer teach Greek and Latin as a requirement; in fact, many don't offer these at all. This was not the case not that long ago, and we are the poorer for it, as the roots of many modern languages lie there; knowing them helps one understand one's own language on so many more levels.

I must admit that not having been taught these languages is something that makes me feel cheated with my education. With them, the wealth of so many traditions lie open; without them, so many doors are closed, and so much is lost....


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## GOLLUM (Jan 4, 2009)

Well you could always take a correspondence course or maybe build a time machine...


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## iansales (Jan 4, 2009)

BookStop said:


> Well - i plugged it into a translator and got no results...Are you sure it's greek?



Er, you won't get a result. Because it's not in the Greek alphabet.


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## sloweye (Jan 4, 2009)

* εν δετιτηει ποταμοιο μεγα σπενοσ οκεανοιο αντψγα παρ πψματεν σακεοσ πψκα ποιετοιο 
* 
Put it through several translaters in both Greek and English text and still no results (except the word Big)


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## Precision Grace (Jan 4, 2009)

there is something a bit weird about that line. if it were a quote from a known classical text then just putting it into google would yield results. 

However, if you read a second para after that quote, I think it explains what it is about:


> Now that I looked more attentively the bare down, on which we climbed like flies, did indeed resemble a vast round shield, about the rim of which this unseen water echoed.  And the resemblance grew more startling when, a mile or so farther on our way, as the grey dawn overtook us, Harry pointed upwards and ahead to a small boss or excrescence now lifting itself above the long curve of the horizon.



Oceanus by Arthur Quiller-Couch @ Classic Reader


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## Pyan (Jan 4, 2009)

Well...
I'm pretty sure it's from _The Illiad_, by *Homer*, book 18. 

There's a description of the Shield of Achilles there, of which the modern translation is:


> *Then, running round the shield-rim, triple-ply,
> he pictured all the might of the Ocean stream.*



"he" being Hephaestus, the Smith-god who made the shield for Achilles.

The context of the quote helps a lot...



> Harry, too, came to a halt. With a sweep of the arm that embraced the dim landscape around and ahead, he quoted softly--
> en detithei potamoio mega spenos Okeanoio
> antyga par pymaten sakeos pyka poietoio . . . .
> 
> ...


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## Lobolover (Jan 4, 2009)

Thanks.

And being honest-that wasnt all that meaningfull at all.Sorry for bothering you all.


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