Vreleksá

eldin raigmore

Translation & Transcription Challenge:
Sappho's micropoem "Alone"

Δέδυκε μεν ἀ σελάννα
καὶ Πληΐαδεσ, μέσαι δὲ
νύκτεσ πάρα δ᾽ ἔρχετ᾽ ὤρα,
ἔγω δὲ μόνα κατεύδω.

sometimes translated into English as:
"The moon has set, and the Pleiades; it is midnight, and time passes, and I sleep alone."

This website transliterates the original Greek into the Latin alphabet thusly:
De'duke men a? sela'nna
kai` Plhï'ades, me'sai de`
nu'ktes pa'ra d? e?'rxet? w?'ra,
e?'gw de` mo'na kateu'dw.

This website gives the original Greek as follows:
Δέδυκε μεν ἀ σελάννα
καὶ Πληΐαδεσ, μέσαι δὲ
νύκτεσ πάρα δ᾽ ἔρχετ᾽ ὤρα,
ἔγω δὲ μόνα κατεύδω.

This website also gives the following two alternate English translations, which are longer, rather than shorter, than the original.

The sinking moon has left the sky,
The Pleiades have also gone.
Midnight comes--and goes, the hours fly
And solitary still, I lie.

The Moon has left the sky,
Lost is the Pleiads' light;
It is midnight,
And time slips by,
But on my couch alone I lie.

See this website for, among other things, a possible Arabic translation (I don't know what the source of the Arabic translation is -- except that it's not Google translate nor Babelfish --, nor whether it's any good, since I don't speak Arabic.)
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Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:43 pm Post subject:

I would transcribe it this way:

Dédyke men a selánna
kaì Plēḯades, mésai dè
nýktes pára d' érket' ṓra
égō dè móra kateýdō.

Also, it should be Πληΐαδες and νύκτες.

Wouldn't be able to verify any translations, though.

eldin raigmore · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:09 pm Post subject: