![]() So Lucian became my model - his Greek, despite his date (3rdĬentury AD) is (almost) pure 5th century BC Attic, which was being recycledĪt the time. Truth) soon convinced me that he was the closest writer in ancient Greek True History (which is guaranteed to contain not a single word of Together with his fantastical notions such as The Lucian's humorous tongue-in-cheek approach, Story) all of whom I read, along with the entire works of Lucian -Ī most entertaining task. Leucippe, Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, Heliodorus' African Novels (Charitons's Callirhoe, Achilles Tatius' Cleitophon and ![]() (who had been our main models for prose composition). Would not lend herself to the style of Thucydides or Plato or Demosthenes Perhaps one could conceive of a device like the Teleporter in Star Trek - no more fanciful than many things actually dscribed in the JKR corpus! The work proceedsīefore getting down to the translation I had to find a style - J K Rowling Have any meaning for him? what would he make of that?" In other wordsĪ cultural transposition is involved, not just finding the words. Greek in mind at all times, and continually ask myself "would that So I thought it was very important to have this time-travelling but once he'd got used to his new surroundings, the book would makeĬomplete sense. Magical process (such as would only be taught only to very advanced studentsĪt Hogwarts!) to reach the 21st century. To a Greek from any era up to the 4th century AD who had managed by some My intention was to recreate a version of the book which would make sense I submitted my draft, it was approved and I was offered a contract toĬomplete the task by January 1st 2003. Little bit of the Quidditch episode in chapter 11. With me to the Caribbean, and concocted a version of chapter 1, plus a I said yes, and took Harry (the publishers kindly supplied me with a copy,Īs I had never read the book!) and my Liddell & Scott lexicon on holiday Was in a slightly jokey form - but some weeks later I received a phonecallįrom Emma Matthewson at Bloomsbury telling me that they were indeed seriousĪbout an ancient Greek version, and would I like to do a specimen chapter? I didn't really expect to hear any more - my offer Spent at least three hours working on about a paragraph of English toīe turned into Greek. Greek prose composition hadīeen my favorite thing at school and university - though of course we On a wild impulse I wrote to The Children's Book Commissioning EditorĪt Bloomsbury Press, offering my services. Was published in the United States six years ago" ( Daily Telegraph 2 February 2003). Latin for college credits has soared by 80 per cent since the first book After decades of decline, the numbers taking Latin in J K Rowling's books has prompted a surge of interest in the classicsĪmong high school students. More recent Telegraph report, in the United States "The use of On beekeeping can be as exciting as it gets." This would seem to Of studying the two dead languages - where wars in Gaul and Virgil's thoughts Hope that the translations will help children overcome the common dread Greek", but were having difficulty finding a translator. To be the first time a children's classic will have been translated into That they were intending to bring out an ancient Greek version, "believed Press as Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis). Latin translation of Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone was under way (by Peter Needham, now published by Bloomsbury News for this website when I came across an article in the Daily ![]() Sometime in the autumn of 2001, I was searching for Classics Ten years after the first publication, I have decided to finish the vocabulary and commentary. ![]() Which are which? And how many can you translate? Try for yourself. How much is genuine ancient Greek? Can you tell? A test for the Hellenists! A selection of words and phrases from the Greek version - some are ancient, some are my own coinages. Go to Greek Vocabulary.Ĭommentary and Notes on the Greek text: currently includes chapters 1 to 5. Many thanks to Mark Wutka for suggesting improvements to this program. It's not complete, but should help you get started with the Greek text. Greek - English Vocabulary for Greek Harry Potter. Peter Needham, translator of HP into Latin. "It's an ideal job for an old bloke in retirement." There's a translation of this page into Polish available here.
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