tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 19 14:03:32 2001

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Re: Sonnet CXVI



De'vID posted a translation of sonnet CXVI while I wasn't looking :-) .
Good to see someone's working on the sonnets again, but there is a problem
in that the translation isn't metrical, and if anything metre is more
important than rhyme for poetic form. The non-gallant thing to do would be
to post my own version :-) ,  but since that ain't gonna happen soon
(though I'm at least now revising the grammar of my _Mark_ translation),
I'll limit myself for now to a few comments:

>Let me not to the marriage of true minds
>	Admit impediments. Love is not love
>tIq chang'engna' tlhogh botlu'
>	'e' vIchaw'Qo'.  parmaqna' 'oHbe'

True's a tricky word here, as it is meant to mean faithful as well as real.
Why introduce the concept of a pair? Admit is probably closer to botbogh
ghu' vIlajQo', but chaw'Qo' will do.

>Which alters when it alteration finds,
>	Or bends with the remover to remove:
>choHbogh parmaqqoq'e' choH tu'lu'DI'qu',
>	qoj teqlu' net chIDDI' 'ombe'.

I'd prefer parmaqqoq'e', choHDI'... as clearer. The fourth verse is really
difficult (I'm stll not sure I understand it, even with my commentary), and
your rendering's as good as any. :-)

>Qo'!  reH ngaDqu' Quvna''e' 'oH;
>	jevqu'taHvIS ratlh 'ej not vIHmoHlu'.

ngaD should follow Quv.

>Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
>	Within his bending sickle's compass come:
>wuS Doq qevpob Doq je nge'laH poH,
>	'ach poH qoH 'oHbe' parmaq'e'.

Good job reversing the order. With the profusion of words for knife, it'd
be a pity not to have [knife] chuq here.

>Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
>	But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
>qaSpu'DI' repmey Hoghmey ngaj je choHQo',
>	'ach 'u' Qaw'lu'pu'pa' Dejbe'.

I'd prefer taH to Dejbe'.


    Nick Nicholas, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae.      [email protected]
                           www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis
 "All the nations also under his dominion were filled with joy and
 inexpressible gladness at not being even for a moment deprived of the
 benefits of a well ordered government."
    --- Eusebius of Caesaria on the accession of Constantine I.




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