Translating the Pastoral Eclogues of Vergil in Half Academic Exercise and Half Historical Re-enactment, or: "bad to verse--the Latin/Anguish Translation."
So I was sitting around and reading books the other evening and realized that I have gone so rusty on my Latin as to be practically useless--no, scratch that. My grammar is not great anymore at this.
I'm not doing the Aeneid but wanted to try doing the Pastoral Poems, attempting to preserve the meter and rhyme scheme and all that. They're poems, not a prose recitation. So that will be interesting--I can read most of the nouns but the grammar is killing me as I do not have the right cases & senses for them. Latin is interesting; you can get away without as many prepositions as English has. Ends of words change to give the sense in which it is being used. Nouns are available in five declensions or sets of endings; I forget how the conjugation of the verbs is supposed to work.
But I had this old paperback copy of Vergil that I got from a thrift store. It's almost completely devoid of English explanation & was printed in the late Victorian era for use of schoolchildren. I don't know about you but I'm not going to be outdone by some snotnosed Victorian-era child who looks like an Edward Gorey illustration but casually translates Latin like a freaking professor in between regularly scheduled beatings and hours of pianoforte lessons.
No this was a matter of honor. So for the time being we are somewhere between 1905 and 1925 and there's some Latin to translate--using what is right here. I get to do the whole 21st century thing when I'm not translating, but while working on this, the year is 1919 or so in a middle-class household. There are some rules:
Objective is to make a readable verse translation of the Bucolica. I could do this in a short time by using the Internet to get everything done but I would learn little so this whole project has to be done like an historical re-enactment of the way people used to make up their translation.
Restrictions:
So this is the work corner. The 1884 Catholic bible, Edison record-player, and "modern" novels on the other side of the room are not permitted. This project is Purely Pagan Poetry Predating Papist Publication, the phonograph is not for ue in study hours, and the novels are dry as dust. There is not even modern padding in the chair and the use of electric light (even incandescent bulbs) is verboten because maybe the house isn't wired in every room for electricity yet in 1919-ish. The books are common, standard references; the wooden pens were as ubiquitous as the Bic Cristal, the old Oliver typewriter was marketed on the instalment plan at 17 cents per day and even the two fountain pens I have allowed myself are loose replicas of 1897-1930's era Conklin self-fillers.
This is going to take longer but anyway I wanted to do this because this looks like a trippy experience and I wanted to know what people might have experienced years ago when they needed to get some work done.
Let's see if I can translate some Vergil, pick up on some grammar, chase down some references, and produce a final manuscript both accurate and attractive, using only Edwardian technology throughout...The project may take a few days...or more like a few weeks, but probably about a month and some change. We'll see. I will organize it (that's novelty) and get going.
Here goes.
So I was sitting around and reading books the other evening and realized that I have gone so rusty on my Latin as to be practically useless--no, scratch that. My grammar is not great anymore at this.
I'm not doing the Aeneid but wanted to try doing the Pastoral Poems, attempting to preserve the meter and rhyme scheme and all that. They're poems, not a prose recitation. So that will be interesting--I can read most of the nouns but the grammar is killing me as I do not have the right cases & senses for them. Latin is interesting; you can get away without as many prepositions as English has. Ends of words change to give the sense in which it is being used. Nouns are available in five declensions or sets of endings; I forget how the conjugation of the verbs is supposed to work.
But I had this old paperback copy of Vergil that I got from a thrift store. It's almost completely devoid of English explanation & was printed in the late Victorian era for use of schoolchildren. I don't know about you but I'm not going to be outdone by some snotnosed Victorian-era child who looks like an Edward Gorey illustration but casually translates Latin like a freaking professor in between regularly scheduled beatings and hours of pianoforte lessons.
No this was a matter of honor. So for the time being we are somewhere between 1905 and 1925 and there's some Latin to translate--using what is right here. I get to do the whole 21st century thing when I'm not translating, but while working on this, the year is 1919 or so in a middle-class household. There are some rules:
Objective is to make a readable verse translation of the Bucolica. I could do this in a short time by using the Internet to get everything done but I would learn little so this whole project has to be done like an historical re-enactment of the way people used to make up their translation.
Restrictions:
- Use what is on the table. No more & no less.
- References such as grammars, dictionaries, etc., must be standard references citable in a bibliography. If additional ones are needed I must either walk or bicycle to the library (Not owning a horse) and retrieve my references in physical form, preferably hardbacks printed in the 19th or early 20th century. "Kindle" refers to fireplace and an "Amazon" is warrior women, a contentious in-law, a newspaper term for a suffragette, or a forest named after a piranha-infested river.
- Only books, stationery, matches, lamp oil, and drinking water are to be added during the project.
- Among English books used in the project translations of Vergil are naturally forbidden. Duh.
- Ink coffee, tea, & drinking water are all liquid served in glass but one is definitely not drinkable.
So this is the work corner. The 1884 Catholic bible, Edison record-player, and "modern" novels on the other side of the room are not permitted. This project is Purely Pagan Poetry Predating Papist Publication, the phonograph is not for ue in study hours, and the novels are dry as dust. There is not even modern padding in the chair and the use of electric light (even incandescent bulbs) is verboten because maybe the house isn't wired in every room for electricity yet in 1919-ish. The books are common, standard references; the wooden pens were as ubiquitous as the Bic Cristal, the old Oliver typewriter was marketed on the instalment plan at 17 cents per day and even the two fountain pens I have allowed myself are loose replicas of 1897-1930's era Conklin self-fillers.
This is going to take longer but anyway I wanted to do this because this looks like a trippy experience and I wanted to know what people might have experienced years ago when they needed to get some work done.
Let's see if I can translate some Vergil, pick up on some grammar, chase down some references, and produce a final manuscript both accurate and attractive, using only Edwardian technology throughout...The project may take a few days...or more like a few weeks, but probably about a month and some change. We'll see. I will organize it (that's novelty) and get going.
Here goes.
