Friday, April 17, 2009

First translation

So I thought I'd practice some translation for my upcoming exam. Here's Luke 15:8-9:
8 τίς γυνὴ δραχμὰς ἔχουσα δέκα, ἐὰν ἀπολέσῃ δραχμὴν μίαν, οὐχὶ ἅπτει λύχνον καὶ σαροῖ τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ ζητεῖ ἐπιμελῶς ἕως ὅτου εὕρῃ; 9 καὶ εὑροῦσα συνκαλεῖ τὰς φίλας καὶ γείτονας λέγουσα· συνχάρητέ μοι, ὅτι εὗρον τὴν δραχμὴν ἣν ἀπώλεσα.
τίς γυνὴ δραχμὰς ἔχουσα δέκα,
Okay, so the first thing I noticed was ἐχ, our favourite verb stem meaning to have. So I should be looking out for two nouns, one nominative and one accusative. γυνη is a singular nominative noun, which I looked up and means woman. δραχμας is a plural accusative which means silver coins.

I looked up δεκα cause I didn't know it. It's an adjective meaning ten, which is really obvious considering our English prefix deca-...

That leaves the first two words: ἠ τις. The first is a particle meaning something like or, and τις is an interrogative pronoun.
So my translation:
Or which woman having ten silver coins

ἐὰν ἀπολέσῃ δραχμὴν μίαν,
This time our silver coin is singular, but still accusative. Following it is an adjective meaning one.
ἀπολεσῃ looks like a feminine singular dative noun, apparently it's actually a subjunctive verb meaning destroy or lose.
And ἐαν means if.
There's no explicit noun here, but the verb has a 3sg form, so the subject is (probably) the woman.

Updated translation:
Or which woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin

οὐχὶ ἅπτει λύχνον
οὐχι is a negative marker. I thought I remembered learning οὐ in a class but I couldn't find it on our workbook...
-ει looks like a 3sg-PRES verb suffix, and the verb means ignite.
-ον is the m-sg-ACC suffix, and the noun is candle.

Or which woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin, doesn't light a candle

καὶ σαροῖ τὴν οἰκίαν
σαροι is a verb meaning sweep.
την οἰκιαν is easy: the house (accusative).

Or which woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin, doesn't light a candle and sweep the house

καὶ ζητεῖ ἐπιμελῶς
ζητει: verb seeks
ἐπιμελως: adverb diligently, carefully


Or which woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin, doesn't light a candle and sweep the house and carefully search

ἕως ὅτου εὕρῃ;
ἑως: until
οτου: relative pronoun
εὑρῃ: finds

Or which woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one silver coin, doesn't light a candle and sweep the house and carefully search until she finds it?

καὶ εὑροῦσα συνκαλεῖ τὰς φίλας καὶ γείτονας λέγουσα·
εὑρουσα: same verb stem as above, but with a different suffix. It's an "aorist" and a participle. Wikipedia tells me that probably means a past event
συνκαλει: call together, assemble. present tense, indicative
φιλας: friends
γειτονας: neighbours
λεγουσα: says

And when she finds it, calling together the friends and neighbours, says

συνχάρητέ μοι, ὅτι εὗρον τὴν δραχμὴν ἣν ἀπώλεσα.
συνχαρητε: rejoice with
ὁτι: because, since
εὑρον: find, aorist 1sg
ἡν: relative pronoun
ἀπωλεσα: lost, aorist 1sg

And when she finds it, calling together the friends and neighbours, says "rejoice with me because I found the silver coin which was lost."

That's not great English though. So here's a rewrite:

Or which woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one, doesn't light a candle, sweep the house, and carefully search until she finds it? When she finds it she calls together her friends and neighbours and says, "Rejoice with me because I found the lost coin!"