Translation of Plato, the Sophist in Gothic
Posted: 2014-07-12, 20:22
Hello there, I 'm translating the Sophist of Plato in Gothic. In this topic I will show you my development in translating this work in Gothic. I will use what we know of Gothic syntax and something which is similar to the German word order.
Sijum hēr, Sokrates, swē þast fairnái daga, jah attiuham gasts fram Eleái hidre, saei siponeis Parmenidis jah Zenau ist, jah þagkja pistkeins.
Sokrates: Nist guþ mais þau manna, Teodorus? Saei qimiþ du unsis huljans swē gasts? Untē Homer qiþiþ ei guda allái jah þis-hun guþ gaste sind ga-sinþas manne hnaiwe jah manne goþe, jah qimiþ at mannáim gudáim jah mannáim ubilaim. Jah ni sijai ga-sinþa þeins sums mahtē hauhē, guþ, saei qimands du bigitan un-mahts in in-sahtái, jah du us-sukjan unsis?
Theod: Ni, Sokrates, manna soks nist - ist ufar goþs fáur þamma. Jah, jah muna, ni allis ist guþ, ak gudisk ist, untē ita ist ufar-meli saei giba du alláim þáim sind þagkjas.
Soc: Goþs abraba, frijonds meins! Jah wiljau ana-áukan ni halis sind swē guþa. Untē þagkjas pistkeinái, at-augjand sik in laudis missa-leikái ni ga-kunnands þáirh manna,
jah "thliuhand ufar baurgim" swaswē Homerus ga-kanneiþ, saiƕans fram himina ana libainai mann; jah sum þagkjand ni waiht....
English:
Theodorus. Here we are, Socrates, true to our agreement of yesterday; and we bring with us a stranger from Elea, who is a disciple of Parmenides and Zeno, and a true philosopher.
Socrates. Is he not rather a god, Theodorus, who comes to us in the disguise of a stranger? For Homer says that all the gods, and especially the god of strangers, are companions of the meek and just, and visit the good and evil among men. And may not your companion be one of those higher powers, a cross-examining deity, who has come to spy out our weakness in argument, and to cross-examine us?
Theod. Nay, Socrates, he is not one of the disputatious sort-he is too good for that. And, in my opinion, he is not a god at all; but divine he certainly is, for this is a title which I should give to all philosophers.
Soc. Capital, my friend! and I may add that they are almost as hard to be discerned as the gods. For the true philosophers, and such as are not merely made up for the occasion, appear in various forms unrecognized by the ignorance of men, and they "hover about cities," as Homer declares, looking from above upon human life; and some think nothing of them,
Sijum hēr, Sokrates, swē þast fairnái daga, jah attiuham gasts fram Eleái hidre, saei siponeis Parmenidis jah Zenau ist, jah þagkja pistkeins.
Sokrates: Nist guþ mais þau manna, Teodorus? Saei qimiþ du unsis huljans swē gasts? Untē Homer qiþiþ ei guda allái jah þis-hun guþ gaste sind ga-sinþas manne hnaiwe jah manne goþe, jah qimiþ at mannáim gudáim jah mannáim ubilaim. Jah ni sijai ga-sinþa þeins sums mahtē hauhē, guþ, saei qimands du bigitan un-mahts in in-sahtái, jah du us-sukjan unsis?
Theod: Ni, Sokrates, manna soks nist - ist ufar goþs fáur þamma. Jah, jah muna, ni allis ist guþ, ak gudisk ist, untē ita ist ufar-meli saei giba du alláim þáim sind þagkjas.
Soc: Goþs abraba, frijonds meins! Jah wiljau ana-áukan ni halis sind swē guþa. Untē þagkjas pistkeinái, at-augjand sik in laudis missa-leikái ni ga-kunnands þáirh manna,
jah "thliuhand ufar baurgim" swaswē Homerus ga-kanneiþ, saiƕans fram himina ana libainai mann; jah sum þagkjand ni waiht....
English:
Theodorus. Here we are, Socrates, true to our agreement of yesterday; and we bring with us a stranger from Elea, who is a disciple of Parmenides and Zeno, and a true philosopher.
Socrates. Is he not rather a god, Theodorus, who comes to us in the disguise of a stranger? For Homer says that all the gods, and especially the god of strangers, are companions of the meek and just, and visit the good and evil among men. And may not your companion be one of those higher powers, a cross-examining deity, who has come to spy out our weakness in argument, and to cross-examine us?
Theod. Nay, Socrates, he is not one of the disputatious sort-he is too good for that. And, in my opinion, he is not a god at all; but divine he certainly is, for this is a title which I should give to all philosophers.
Soc. Capital, my friend! and I may add that they are almost as hard to be discerned as the gods. For the true philosophers, and such as are not merely made up for the occasion, appear in various forms unrecognized by the ignorance of men, and they "hover about cities," as Homer declares, looking from above upon human life; and some think nothing of them,