3 ms·

I looked up some other translations... 1908 - "Not "Oh, my poor blisters!" - https://archive.org/details/frogstranslatedi00arisuoft/page/2/mode/2up https://arc

by shagie 4y ago

I looked up some other translations... 1908 - "Not "Oh, my poor blisters!" - https://archive.org/details/frogstranslatedi00arisuoft/page/2/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/frogstranslatedi00arisuoft/page/... 1995 - "Anything but “What a strain!”" https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0032 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext... Original greek - "πλήν γ᾽ ‘ὡς θλίβομαι.’" - https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0031:line=1 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text... This appears to translate as "except 'as I grieve.'" according to Google Translate - https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=πλήν%20γ᾽%20‘ὡς%20θλίβομαι.’&op=translate https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=πλήν%20γ᾽%20‘...

thaumasiotes 4y ago
> This appears to translate as "except 'as I grieve.'" according to Google Translate That Perseus link will give you dictionary entries for the words. Relevant glosses of ὡς appear to be "as; how; so; thus". θλίβομαι is the passive form of a verb meaning "press; squeeze" and metaphorically "oppress; afflict"; examples in the Great Scott (LSJ) show it being used to describe a shoe pinching a foot, a shoulder rubbing against a narrow doorway, lips pressing against each other in a kiss, and the circumstances of poverty making things difficult for a poor person. So it's easy to imagine that it might feature in the punchline of a pun. But even without constructing a pun, it would be easy to translate that as something like "see how I suffer?", which could be the punchline to any number of jokes. It sounds like a good translation of the modern punchline "first world problems", for example.
- n4r9 4y ago
  "What a strain" feels like quite a good translation, then. One can easily imagine a joke along the lines of... I've been having stomach pains all week but finally managed a bowel movement this morning. What a strain!

by shagie 4y ago

thaumasiotes 4y ago

> This appears to translate as "except 'as I grieve.'" according to Google Translate That Perseus link will give you dictionary entries for the words. Relevant glosses of ὡς appear to be "as; how; so; thus". θλίβομαι is the passive form of a verb meaning "press; squeeze" and metaphorically "oppress; afflict"; examples in the Great Scott (LSJ) show it being used to describe a shoe pinching a foot, a shoulder rubbing against a narrow doorway, lips pressing against each other in a kiss, and the circumstances of poverty making things difficult for a poor person. So it's easy to imagine that it might feature in the punchline of a pun. But even without constructing a pun, it would be easy to translate that as something like "see how I suffer?", which could be the punchline to any number of jokes. It sounds like a good translation of the modern punchline "first world problems", for example.

n4r9 4y ago
"What a strain" feels like quite a good translation, then. One can easily imagine a joke along the lines of... I've been having stomach pains all week but finally managed a bowel movement this morning. What a strain!