Hittite is proving ultra-resistant. I hope I didn't promise more than I can keep.
However, to give my eclect audience a foretaste, here are the first fragments of the promised pastoral elegy translated from that very old and long extinct Indo-European language:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? bemourn ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? mourn grief ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? lament cry? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ‘is flute ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? Hattupsilitas ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? fields of barley? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? onion ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? finest of minds of his? ?
? generation? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? moan grief cry? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? so cruelly blown away ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? moan grief cry? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? bemoan oh muses*? ?
? ? ? ? bemoan? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
* “Muses” is a later Greek concept. However, the divine beings appealed to here seem quite related as far as I can make out.
Note that this is far from final. The poetics and modes of thinking and expression in this ancient language were quite different from today's Indo-European or other modes.
Translating the Hittite language? Okay now you have to tell me what your background is (education)...
ReplyDeleteI see one of your tags for this post is "humor" Uh oh, I was taking you seriously...I feel so ashamed. :(
ReplyDeleteI do love my languages, but Hittite is definitely beyond me.
ReplyDeleteHate to disappoint you, but this translation is all spoof :)
In fact, I infused this "old Hittite" text with something almost from Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl':
ReplyDeleteI saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness ...
Perhaps I should explain this Hittite association. It all has to do with John Ashbery's "A Hittite Lullaby" - see
ReplyDeletehttp://worldsowide.blogspot.com/2007/04/work-in-progress-announcement.html
In that posting, I state that he "discovered" it, but the truth is, of course, that he wrote it.
It is no more Hittite than my translation from the Hittite...