Tuesday, 11 December 2012

A little Greek puzzle

I don't read Greek, but a couple of hundred people have followed the suggestion from Abram K-J that we read Isaiah in the LXX.  Am I ready finally to learn a little Greek? I have a dozen books around the house that have sat for 50 years waiting for me to pick them up. Well, I'm in - and I will listen.  At about 5 verses a day, perhaps I will get the hang of it sometime over the next 6 months.

In the meanwhile I thought about putting together one of my usual pictures of Isaiah 6:1-5.  In this I am ahead of the group. But I will go back, having done the first five verses and catch up a bit - at least at a conceptual level.  This is the origin of the Sanctus of the Ordinary of the Mass.  The music of verse 3 is like this:
For those who don't read music there's a quick rendition below.
 
Original audio source (here)

And here are the words that repeat in Isaiah 6:1-5, following my usual strategy of spotting similar sounds in the Hebrew - but this time the Greek is in the gloss.  I have to say this was very difficult to do for a blind and deaf person.  But the coherence and framing of these five verses is nevertheless obvious based on the words that repeat.

If anyone sees this - can you tell me if I got the interlinear sort of right?  It was hilarious trying to get glosses out of Google translate. It is difficult enough doing a manual interlinear in English!  What is this δυσὶν?

Anyway - I now have these five verses in a database where I can manipulate them somewhat (in raw form since my psalms software is somewhat specific to psalms... mea culpa).

Incidentally - I am doing the online reading with the polyglot Bible. I can't read the Greek yet - but I am OK with the Hebrew and Latin and I can frequently guess the Greek. This link has an easy to use dictionary - but it doesn't define δυσὶν either.

Selected recurring words (1 to 5)
Word and gloss * first usage12345678910123456VsRoot
המלך ὁ βασιλεύς
░
1מלך
ואראה εἶδον
░
1ראה
ישׁב καθήμενον
░
1ישׁב
מלאים καὶ πλήρης
░
1מלא
שׁשׁ ἓξ
░
2שׁשׁ
כנפים πτέρυγες
░
2כנף
שׁשׁ ἓξ
░
2שׁשׁ
כנפים πτέρυγες
░
2כנף
בשׁתים καὶ ταῖς μὲν δυσὶν
░
2שׁנים
יכסה κατεκάλυπτον
░
2כסה
ובשׁתים καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν
░
2שׁנים
יכסה δυσὶν κατεκάλυπτον
░
2כסה
ובשׁתים καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν
░
2שׁנים
וקרא καὶ ἐκέκραγον
░
3קרא
זה ἕτερος
░
3זה
זה ἕτερον
░
3זה
ואמר καὶ ἔλεγον
░
3אמר
קדושׁ ἅγιος
░
3קדשׁ
קדושׁ ἅγιος
░
3קדשׁ
קדושׁ ἅγιος
░
3קדשׁ
צבאות σαβαωθ
░
3צבא
מלא πλήρης
░
3מלא
הקורא ἧς ἐκέκραγον
░
4קרא
ימלא ἐπλήσθη
░
4מלא
ואמר καὶ εἶπα
░
5אמר
טמא ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτα
░
5טמא
שׂפתים χείλη
░
5שׂפה
אנכי ἔχων
░
5אנכי
טמא ἀκάθαρτα
░
5טמא
שׂפתים χείλη
░
5שׂפה
אנכי ἐγὼ
░
5אנכי
יושׁב ἔχοντος
░
5ישׁב
המלך βασιλέα
░
5מלך
צבאות σαβαωθ
░
5צבא
ראו εἶδον
░
5ראה
The meaning of the holy - what is that - and why is this passage here? 


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