The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Samuel Butler

Re:The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Samuel Butler by InitialLastName on Monday July 17, 2023 @02:40PM (#36762240)

Butler: "My own wife, do not take these things too bitterly to heart"

It seems to me that most of the other translations I can find are closer to the Wilson translation. I don't know any version of Greek, but the name Andromache doesn't appear in that line (book 6 line 486) at all, and nobody else seems to interpret the line as a rhetorical question.

All this just to say, maybe Wilson's is closer to the original text?

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Re:The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Samuel Butler by thisisauserid on Monday July 17, 2023 @03:41PM (#36762996)

Great points. It still seems odd to me that she left Lattimore out when he's so often praised (on HN anyway).

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Re:The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Samuel Butler by theoldlove on Tuesday July 18, 2023 @12:50AM (#36767920)

Yeah the Greek here is (Il. 6.486):

δαιμονίη μή μοί τι λίην ἀκαχίζεο θυμῷ:

δαιμονίη is of disputed meaning, but basically a literal translation might run:

Possessed woman, don’t be so upset in your heart for me.

Here Lattimore doesn’t look so good.

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