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Category: Literature
Why is Wikipedia in Ancient Greek and Simple French still rejected in spite of both having a strong support base?
The Wikimedia Language committee clamped down on “dead” languages and artificial languages quite ferociously, after an initial laissez-faire period. Because initially you could set up a Wikipedia in any language you liked, Latin, Old English, Gothic, and Old Church Slavonic got in. Because the Wikimedia Language Committee clamped down, Ancient Greek got rejected even though […]
What was Clearchus’ tragic flaw?
Desmond, I have the highest of regard for you who have A2A’d me, and you have the highest of regard to me to have A2A’d me. The problem is, I don’t even know who Clearchus is. Yes, I am actually an impostor. But Wikipedia remedies that! So. Clearchus of Sparta – Wikipedia, and Battle of […]
Which languages lend themselves particularly well for poetry?
They all do. And let me elaborate on that. For starters, there’s the element of formal craft in poetry, and there’s the allusive use of language in poetry. Both of them are essential. For allusiveness, what you need is a culture expressed through that language. All natural languages that people live their lives in are […]
Where can one find the obscure works (i.e. plays and poems) of Nikos Kazantzakis (“Julian the Apostate”, “Odysseus”, “Tertsinas”, etc.)?
In Greece, it’s not particularly difficult to find all the works of Kazantzakis in any middling bookstore; and bless you for mentioning the Terza Rimas, that I have a lot of affection for. In the Anglosphere, a university with a Modern Greek teaching program will have them. A university that used to have a Modern […]
When was the first time that Chinese was translated into any Indo-European language, e.g. Latin, Greek, etc.?
There was no direct contact between Ancient Greeks and China. There were a couple of very limited trade missions between the Roman Empire and China, and from what I remember the information exchange was pretty mangled. Lots of Chinese was translated into European languages once the Jesuits made contact, led by Matteo Ricci in the […]
The Death of Twyborn
Digenes Akritas was a hero of mediaeval Acritic songs, ballads celebrating the deeds of border guards of the Byzantine Empire. The hero survived into Modern Greek folk song, and The Death of Digenis is a song that got a lot of renown. I cited its depiction of the Grim Reaper at https://necrologue.quora.com/Som… , since I’ve […]
There are modern Greek bibles on Bible.com called FPB (Filos Pergamos Bible) and NTV. When were these published, and what does NTV stand for?
The Filos Pergamos Bible is the 1993 translation by Spyros Filos, published by Pergamos publishers: Η Αγία Γραφή—Μεταφορά στη Νεοελληνική: Παλαιά Διαθήκη/Καινή Διαθήκη, Σπύρος Φίλος, Εκδόσεις Πέργαμος, Αθήνα, 1993/1994. Η Αγία Γραφή-Μεταφορά στη Νεοελληνική – Βικιπαίδεια As discussed at https://www.quora.com/Are-there-… , my assumption is that the NTV is the “Four Professors’” translation of the New […]
Are there any Modern Greek New Testament translations online besides Vamvas’ (biblehub.com), Spyros Filos’ (Bible.is), NTV & TGVD (el.bibles.com)?
There’s an excerpt of the 1536 Old and New Testament by Ioannikios Kartanos: Παλαιά τε και Νέα Διαθήκη. However that is a translation of an Italian paraphrase, and not really a translation. A list of the New Testament translations is available at Μεταφράσεις της Αγίας Γραφής. The list includes: Maximos of Gallipoli, 1638 Vamvas, 1850 […]
On the YouTube channel “Χριστιανισμός”, which Modern Greek Bible version do they read from? Gallipoli? Seraphim?
OP, you know about the first translation of the New Testament into Modern Greek by Maximus of Gallipoli, in 1638! That is awesome! And it would be awesome if that was the version that the channel used in the video: But no. The text is Neophytos Vamvas’ translation, and you can read along here: N. […]
Can you recall a particular text that ignited your love of literature?
You merit of me, Anya of Lincoln, an answer with a gem in it. A shard of Sappho, perhaps. But that was in my thirties. An artfully naive ballad of Heine’s. But that was in my twenties. The children’s poetry of C. J. Dennis. I remember the LP I somehow got of him when I […]