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Posted on entry Texts, 2008 ::: December 26, 2008, 04:02 AM:
#25 The Greek is 'dioti ouk e^n autois topos en to katalymati', "because not was to-them space in the ..." and then we face a translation problem. 'Katalyma' (to use the basic form) could mean 'inn', but also 'guest room' in a house; in Mark 14:14 Jesus asks the master of a house (in a message to be conveyed by the disciples) "where is my _katalyma_ where I can eat the Passover with my disciples". So it's entirely possible that we're talking about a room in a private house belonging to Joseph's relatives - after all, if he comes from the area originally he must have some there* - where they are in principle assured of a welcome but there is literally not a square inch to spare owing to all the other relations.
I'm afraid that spoils the plot of many children's Nativity plays with the unhelpful innkeeper, but it seems a little more plausible overall.

* Quite how far back the 'house and lineage' is being calculated is not clear, but one suspects most bureaucracies would not be going back that many generations.
Posted on entry Texts, 2008 ::: December 25, 2008, 03:43 AM:
# 11 Sorry; the genitive version should read ευδοκιας/eudokias.
It's deeply worrying that I made the mistake in the _Roman_ alphabet not the Greek.
Posted on entry Texts, 2008 ::: December 25, 2008, 03:39 AM:
# 9 ; just to clarify - the ambiguity in the Greek is whether you think the original had the nominative ευδοκια/eudokia (as in the standard medieval Greek text, used by the Early Modern English translators from Tyndale on) or the genitive ευδοκιας/eudokia (as in several of the better manuscripts, and whatever manuscript was the basis for the Latin). Modern critical editions tend to go for the latter.

In addition, the preposition 'en' ('in, among') is missing in some traditions before 'anthropois' ('humans, people'); without it, 'anthropois' means
'to people'.
Posted on entry Fimbul Winter ::: December 22, 2008, 02:35 PM:
# 38; this sounds like Odysseus, being told the following by the seer Tiresias:
(Odyssey 11: 118 etc)

"But when thou hast slain the wooers in thy halls, [120] whether by guile or openly with the sharp sword, then do thou go forth, taking a shapely oar, until thou comest to men that know naught of the sea and eat not of food mingled with salt, aye, and they know naught of ships with purple cheeks, [125] or of shapely oars that are as wings unto ships. And I will tell thee a sign right manifest, which will not escape thee. When another wayfarer, on meeting thee, shall say that thou hast a winnowing-fan on thy stout shoulder, then do thou fix in the earth thy shapely oar [130] and make goodly offerings to lord Poseidon--a ram, and a bull, and a boar that mates with sows--and depart for thy home and offer sacred hecatombs to the immortal gods who hold broad heaven, to each one in due order. And death shall come to thee thyself far from the sea, [135] a death so gentle, that shall lay thee low when thou art overcome with sleek old age, and thy people shall dwell in prosperity around thee. In this have I told thee sooth. "

(Quoted from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136;query=card%3D%23124;layout=;loc=11.51;
the Greek is at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135&layout=&loc=11.115).



Posted on entry Open thread 116 ::: December 03, 2008, 08:02 AM:
# 437, 439

'Protos metaxy ison' (Ï€Ïώτος Î¼ÎµÏ„Î±Î¾Ï Î¯ÏƒÏ‰Î½) seems to be the common expression in Modern Greek; however it appears to be a set expression using Ancient Greek syntax.

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