Hellenisms from Sappho
Personajes:
Tema: Hellenisms in poetry
Competencias
Competencia en Comunicación Lingüística
Competencia Plurilingüe
Competencia Personal, social y de aprender a aprender
Competencia en conciencia y expresiones culturales
Materias y cursos por Sistema Educativo
España > Cultura Clásica > 1º ESO > Pervivencia de las lenguas clásicas. Lengua y léxico
Enunciado
Read carefully the following verses by Sappho, a poetess who lived between the 7th and the 6th centuries BC In the island of Lesbos; try to read them using a phonetic transcription chart.
Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον, οἰ δὲ πέσδων,
οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπὶ γᾶν μέλαιναν
ἔμμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κήν’ ὄτ-
τω τις ἔραται.
Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers,
others call a fleet the most beautiful of
sights the dark earth offers, but I say it’s whatever
you love best..
Sappho, Frg. 16 LP
The Poetry of Sappho. Translation and Notes by Jim Powell (2007). Oxford University Press (retrevied on 07/06/2023) <http://www.projethomere.com/ressources/Sappho/Poetry-of-Sappho.pdf>
You probably think that this language is far from yours, but in this activity you will find out why that is wrong. There are, at least, 11 words in these verses from which we can extract other words in our language. They are highlighted in yellow.
Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον, οἰ δὲ πέσδων,
οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπὶ γᾶν μέλαιναν
ἔμμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κήν’ ὄτ-
τω τις ἔραται.
1. Copy the words in the first column in the same order they appear.
2. Deduct which of the suggested Greek etymons is related to it and complete the other two columns.
3. Using the table you have used to read the verses, transcribe the Greek etymons into the Latin alphabet and complete the fourth column.
4. Find derivatives of those etymons. You can use an online dictionary.
ETYMONS: μέλας (black) / φη- ,φα- (say, speak) / ἵππος (horse) / ἐγώ (I) / στρατός (army) / ἐπί (above) / ποῦς, ποδός (foot) / ἐρος (love) / ναῦς (ship) / γῆ (earth) καλός (beautiful)
Observaciones y contexto
Sappho's example served as a stimulus for almost all the surviving poets of Greco-Roman antiquity, from the Greeks (Mirtis and Corina, from Boeotia; Telesila and Praxila, from the Peloponnese; Erina, from the island of Telos; Mero, from Byzantium; Anita, from Tegea, a modest village in Arcadia? ) to the Romans (Melino, the elegiac Sulpicia, Herenia Procula, Sulpicia the satirist, the travellers Julia Balbila and Cecilia Trebula, Fabia Aconia Paulina, the last pagan...). Romantic writers used it as a shield to validate female authorship (Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Carolina Coronado, María Rosa Gálvez, etc.). With the contributions of the papyri found at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, Sappho was once again translated and read.
This activity can be done with any text by Sappho. We have chosen this one because it has survived to our days and its contents are relevant. The level of difficulty of the activity can be adapted by eliminating the most difficult terms or by providing some sample answers at the beginning of the activity. It can be done in other levels as well.
Descripción
Finding Hellenisms in your language from some common words in a poem by Sappho.