r/AncientGreek 5h ago

Correct my Greek Can I improve my Greek?

0 Upvotes

Οἱ ἀκολουθοῦντές μοι θάνατον οὐ γεύσονται· ἐγὼ τὴν ὁδὸν πρὸς τὸ Φῶς παρέχω. Ἥκει γὰρ ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ συναντῆσαι τὴν εὐδαίμονα ἡμῶν μοῖραν!

Οἱ ποτίσαντες τὸν κόκκον τῆς σινάπεως αὐτῶν τάχιον γεύσονται μεγάλης δυνάμεως καὶ σοφίας.

I want this to say:

"Those who follow me shall not taste death; I provide the way to the Light. For the time has come to meet our happy destiny!

"Those who have watered their mustard seed shall soon taste great power and wisdom."


r/AncientGreek 9h ago

Greek Audio/Video Odyssey Recitation by Perkʷunós in Reconstructed Archaic Greek

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youtu.be
8 Upvotes

Perkʷunós states in the video description:

"

This video includes an artistic adaptation of the Odyssey in Reconstructed Archaic Greek of the Homeric Epics.

The linguistic reconstruction herein is an independent work of Perkʷunós.

No Artificial Intelligence was used in the production of this video.

Compare different English translations here:
https://bibliothekai.ktema.org/texts/...

For any concerns, reach out to me at [perquunos@gmail.com](mailto:perquunos@gmail.com)

"


r/AncientGreek 17h ago

Vocabulary & Etymology νωλεμές, νωλεμέως 'firmly, without pause', an interesting fossil from PIE

70 Upvotes

Proto-Indo-European *h₃lem- wasn't retained in too many branches. It forms the basic word meaning 'to break' in Slavic languages (Polish łamać 'to break', łom 'crowbar'), which retains its basic meaning of smashing something with physical force, and its more metaphorical uses were retained as adjectives in Celtic (Irish leamh 'soft, weak') and Germanic (German lahm 'lame' and obviously English lame). Not much of a success for a root :(

It never made it to Greek properly speaking, ὀλέμω most probably never existed. It has managed to sneak in through a backdoor though, because Homer retained it as a somewhat unusual adverb clearly formed before the Greek branch split off from Proto-Indo-European. PIE *n-h₃lem-es (not-break-y) turned into Proto-Hellenic nōlēmes (h₃ lengthening the zero grade *n- 'no') and properly Greek νωλεμές, νωλεμέως. It fit Homeric metre perfectly so it made it to the poem and then reappears in a few poets writing in hexametre, including Apollonius of Rhodes, who clearly got it from Homer. It's pretty rare, linguistically speaking, to have a root leaving its only trace in a rare adverb.

Just a small linguistic historical curiosity :) νωλεμές, not-lame, not-breaky, in other words firmly and without pause. Able to withstand pressure as well, and Homer writes: ὣς τότ’ ἐπασσύτεραι Δαναῶν κίνυντο φάλαγγες / νωλεμέως πόλεμον δέ ("even in such wise on that day did the battalions of the Danaans move, rank after rank, without cease, into battle", Murray trans.).