Greek Writing

[Thoyd Loki]

Does anybody know of a book or a website (preferable) that has english translations for words that are written in Greek script? I get tired of reading ancient Greek philosophy and having sentences like: "Anaxagoras had the concept of the ^%&^%(Greek word) that he used to demostrate...." with no English word put in its place.

Sometimes I can guess it, sometimes the context will give me a clue, but a lot of times I'm simply screwed.

[BurgessLau]

Does anybody know of a book or a website (preferable) that has english translations for words that are written in Greek script? I get tired of reading ancient Greek philosophy and having sentences like: "Anaxagoras had  the concept of the ^%&^%(Greek word) that he used to demostrate...." with no English word put in its place.

...

How does reading about Greek philosophy fit into your central purpose in life?

If you are a serious, long-term student of philosophy, I would suggest learning the basics of the language. Greek philosophy is philosophy, to a great extant. The Greek word for philosophy is philosophia, the Latin is philosophia, the Arabic is falsafa, and the French is philosophie. That is not a coincidence.

One semester might be enough for your purposes, assuming you are not focusing on ancient philosophy.

Several universities offer independent studies through the mail, sometimes with phone privileges. That is how I first studied Greek, Arabic, Latin, and French (all for the simplest reading purposes only). I later took classes at a local university. Classes are much more thorough. They require a big investment of time, but you will be challenged to learn more deeply.

The problem with buying a Greek-English dictionary, alone, or using one online is that any given word -- such as ousia -- can have a wide range of meanings (substance, property, being, essence, existence, nature), from literal to very abstract. If you don't know a little about the language you might not be able to understand the contexts of the various meanings.

Another advantage of taking a course is learning correct pronunciation. If you can pronounce the word, you will be better able to remember it (and transliterate it too).

The alphabet is an initial hurdle because it appears somewhat alien. However, ancient Greek is simpler than Latin.

Be sure to take Classical Greek, not koine, the language of the New Testament.

[DavidOdden]

Here is what you want, I think. You'll need to learn how to cope with the alphabet which should take no more that a few days (well, YMMV), but this link (the Persus project) might be a good tool to use. Like many online tools, you have to be patient. Try looking up ousia (name of a plaster?!).

[Thoyd Loki]

DavidOdden,

Thank you very much, that is exactly what I was looking for! Now I can get Father Copleston in a good headlock!

BurgessLau,

I don't know if your question was rhetorical...

It fits in the central purpose of my life because, as you say, Greek philosophy is philosophy. I believe that everything we talk about now, all the major issues, topics, distinctions, divisions were set and discovered by the Greeks. I had a political discussion at a bar a few months ago that reduced down to the imperfection or lack of of reality (my opponent was arguing that communism failed because this is an imperfect world). Bam! Plato vs. Aristotle.

I have studied a number of texts, but I have had to avoid the ones that use the method that I described in my question.

It is kind of funny that you responded to my question. I am a science fiction/fantasy (no magic or unicorns though) writer, and I have always found the height of Greece, the dark ages, and the rebirth through Aristotle to be a highly fascinating subject. I want to write a giant series of novels that play on this sort of theme, and I have always thought that your book touches on a subject that is really only mentioned in passing in a lot of books, or not dealt with at all.

Thank you both for your responses.