Samhain Waxing Moon of the Winter Solstice
In my session with my Latin tutor today, Greg told me I’d made good progress. For the first 4 verses or so, he had no corrections at all. I’m learning something.
What I’m learning now, peeling back this onion one more layer is this: figuring out the exact or closest to exact english that conforms to the Latin often fails to make much sense. There is a leap, a vault between the world of Ovid and his language and the third millennium English speaking world in which I live. I’ve always suspected/known this and part of my purpose in setting out on this journey is to learn about that leap. More. To investigate that process in a specific text that matters to me and to my understanding of the world. Metamorphosis is such a text.
So, I learn the Latin, grammar and vocabulary. Then, I apply what I’ve learned to the Latin text. After I’ve done that, I can begin the task of translation. It is, I suppose, exegesis and hermeneutics, my old friends from seminary classes on the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Each lesson I take another step on this journey.
