123
leaving wind names unchanged, the translation obscures more than it illuminates
Aristotle’s admittedly compressed expression, and leads to apparent tautology that
is not present in the Greek (‘south are the winds that come from due south and Lips
… West is the wind that comes from the west and also the wind called Argestes’).
In the second paragraph (as divided above), the Loeb translates both heōs and
anatolē as ‘sunrise’, whereas they are purely directional terms in this passage; as are
dysmai and dysmē, both unnecessarily translated ‘sunset’. It would be desirable to
reflect the variation between heōs and anatolē, but it is difficult without importing
metonymic words (‘dawn’, ‘rising’). Part of the solution is to to include the different
transliterated Greek words in parentheses.
5.3.3 Theophrastos
Aristotle’s younger contemporary Theophrastos also discusses the winds systematically in his Weather Signs. Although the following extract uses only wind names, it
offers a salutary indication of the responsibilities of the translator. A small extract
(from section 36) suffices:
Ὑγροὶ δὲ μάλιστα ὅ τε καικίας καὶ λίψ· χαλαζώδης δ᾿ ἀπαρκτίας καὶ θρακίας καὶ
ἀργέστης· νιφετώδης δὲ ὅ τε μέσης καὶ ἀπαρκτίας· καυματώδης δὲ νότος καὶ ζέφυρος
καὶ εὖρος.
The Loeb translator of 1916 imagines that converting unfamiliar wind names to
compass directions will make the meaning clear, but leaves the Greek far behind:
The north-east and south-west are the wettest winds; the north<,> the north-north-east<,>
49
and the north-east bring hail; snow comes with the north-north-east and north. The south,
the west, and the south-east winds bring heat.
The wind names are suppressed, but the plethora of hyphenated compass bearings arguably makes the text more resistant to reading—even though a reconstruction of Theophrastos’ diagram (mentioned in the Greek text) accompanies the
printed text.
50
An alternative rendering, much closer to the Greek and surely no less
transparent, is:
The Kaikias and Lips are particularly moist; the Aparktias, Thrakias,
51 and Argestes are
characterized by hail; the Meses and Aparktias are snowy; Notos, Zephyros, and Euros are
burning.
49 I have added the two commas, clearly omitted by typographic error.
50 Though with the wind names only in Greek: Hort 1916, 414 (relevant passage of text on
pp. 416–17).
51 Same as Thraskias in other sources.
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers
leaving wind names unchanged, the translation obscures more than it illuminates
Aristotle’s admittedly compressed expression, and leads to apparent tautology that
is not present in the Greek (‘south are the winds that come from due south and Lips
… West is the wind that comes from the west and also the wind called Argestes’).
In the second paragraph (as divided above), the Loeb translates both heōs and
anatolē as ‘sunrise’, whereas they are purely directional terms in this passage; as are
dysmai and dysmē, both unnecessarily translated ‘sunset’. It would be desirable to
reflect the variation between heōs and anatolē, but it is difficult without importing
metonymic words (‘dawn’, ‘rising’). Part of the solution is to to include the different
transliterated Greek words in parentheses.
5.3.3 Theophrastos
Aristotle’s younger contemporary Theophrastos also discusses the winds systematically in his Weather Signs. Although the following extract uses only wind names, it
offers a salutary indication of the responsibilities of the translator. A small extract
(from section 36) suffices:
Ὑγροὶ δὲ μάλιστα ὅ τε καικίας καὶ λίψ· χαλαζώδης δ᾿ ἀπαρκτίας καὶ θρακίας καὶ
ἀργέστης· νιφετώδης δὲ ὅ τε μέσης καὶ ἀπαρκτίας· καυματώδης δὲ νότος καὶ ζέφυρος
καὶ εὖρος.
The Loeb translator of 1916 imagines that converting unfamiliar wind names to
compass directions will make the meaning clear, but leaves the Greek far behind:
The north-east and south-west are the wettest winds; the north<,> the north-north-east<,>
49
and the north-east bring hail; snow comes with the north-north-east and north. The south,
the west, and the south-east winds bring heat.
The wind names are suppressed, but the plethora of hyphenated compass bearings arguably makes the text more resistant to reading—even though a reconstruction of Theophrastos’ diagram (mentioned in the Greek text) accompanies the
printed text.
50
An alternative rendering, much closer to the Greek and surely no less
transparent, is:
The Kaikias and Lips are particularly moist; the Aparktias, Thrakias,
51 and Argestes are
characterized by hail; the Meses and Aparktias are snowy; Notos, Zephyros, and Euros are
burning.
49 I have added the two commas, clearly omitted by typographic error.
50 Though with the wind names only in Greek: Hort 1916, 414 (relevant passage of text on
pp. 416–17).
51 Same as Thraskias in other sources.
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers