Sublime Sappho. The moon has set & the Pleiades (in Aeolic Greek, Linear B, Linear C, English & French): Click to ENLARGE
This is the first of many exquisite poems by the sublime Sappho (ca. 630-570 BCE), who was considered by the ancient Greeks to be second only to Homer, as well as the greatest lyric poet of their age. Indeed, even today, a great many poets and poetry critics, including myself, consider her to hold this exalted station still. You will all see this for yourselves as I post one after another of her exalted lyrics. I have decided to go all the way, by presenting you each poem in the original Aeolic Greek, as well as in Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C, and even English and French! Throughout history, to this very day, no one has ever done this. I am the first. I am so in awe Sappho’s consummate skill and artistry that I will do anything to broadcast her name and her sublime poetry to the whole world.
This particular poem is my absolute favourite. It flows so naturally in Aeolic Greek that it washes over me, emotionally and spiritually. Like Italian, Aeolic Greek is superbly suited for lyric poetry, as it has no aspirates. Aspiration can and sometimes does sound harsh in lyric poetry. Aeolic Greek is notable for its sublime melody. If you could only hear this stunning poem, even if you could not even read Aeolic Greek, the Harmony of the Spheres would fairly floor you. Sappho knew this perfectly well. Her lyrics were, of course, sung to the accompaniment of the lyre. I have never read any lyric poet in any language (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German or Russian) who has ever been able to rival her consummate artistry. I adore her. Click to ENLARGE her portrait.
A few linguistic notes:
Being an East Greek dialect, Aeolic Greek is related to both the Mycenaean & Arcado-Cypriot dialects. There are many striking similarities and some notable differences in these three dialects.
Mycenaean Greek in Linear B:
Mycenaean Greek has no L series of syllabograms. The R series must be substituted, hence “serana” for Aeolic “selanna”. Since Linear B is an open syllabary, in which all syllabograms must end with a vowel, it is impossible to spell any word with two consecutive consonants, hence the last syllable of “serana” has only 1 N. For the same reason, final consonants, which are normative in almost all ancient Greek dialects, must be omitted in Mycenaean Greek. Hence, we have “me” for “men”. It is difficult to express the plural in Mycenaean Greek. However, there are precedents. The plural of “apore” (amphora) is “aporewe”. This allows us to write the Pleiades as “Periadewe”.
Arcado-Cypriot Linear C:
Similar bizarre (parallel) spelling conventions plague Arcado-Cypriot Linear C . Unlike Linear B, which has a dental D series of syllabograms, Linear C lacks it, and must substitute the dental T series. On the other hand, Linear C has both an L and an R series, and so both liquids can be accounted for. Since documents in alphabetic Arcado-Cypriot must express the final consonant, in line with almost all other ancient Greek dialects, Linear C has no choice but to resort to the opposite strategy from Mycenaean Linear B for the orthography of the ultimate, when it is meant to express the dative singular, the nominative plural and for all other Greek words ending with a consonant. The consonant must be expressed in Linear C, since it is always written in the alphabet. This is absolutely de rigueur, since many documents are simultaneously composed in Linear C and in the alphabet. In order to achieve this, Linear C has no choice but to use syllabograms, which still end in a vowel. It neatly skirts this annoying problem by expressing the ultimate consonant, following it with a filler vowel. A weird solution, but it works. If it works, it works. No hay problema nada.
Hence, we have “mene” for “men”, which is the opposite of “me” for “men” in Linear C. Likewise, the plural is always clearly expressed, as in “peleitese”, where Linear C must also insert a final filler vowel, in most cases SE (to express the consonantal plural in sigma), as well as NE for all nouns ending in the consonant N. Such nouns are extremely common in ancient Greek dialects. Notice also the “te” in “peleitese”, since Linear C has no D series of syllabograms. On the other hand, both Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot have no G series of syllabograms.
Mycenaean Linear B must substitute either the K or the Q series. Arcado-Cypriot has no guttural Q series either, so all words with G + vowel must be expressed by K + vowel, hence “eko” for “ego” in both Linear B & C. I can hear you who read ancient Greek well or who are ancient Greek linguistics loudly protest that there were no personal pronouns in either Linear B or Linear C. And you are right. However, I had to take liberties with the Aeolic Greek, because it does use personal pronouns, and frequently. As for the likelihood that Mycenaean Greek would have used the Q series of syllabograms to express words with guttural G + vowel, I would readily grant that this may have been true, except for one critical consideration. Mycenaean & Arcado-Cypriot were the closest ancient Greek dialects by far, being kissing cousins. So if Arcado-Cypriot expresses G + vowel with the guttural K series of syllabograms, it stands to reason that it is more likely than not that Mycenaean Greek must have done the same thing. But there is no guarantee of this. Still, the Q series of syllabograms would have fit the bill just as well.
And there you have it.
Richard
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the moon has set with the Pleiades... all alone I sleep la lune se couche et les Pléiades ... je dors toute seule Richard Vallance © by Richard Vallance 2020 photos public domain/ domaine public The texts in the left pane are overlaid on the painting, The Pleiades (1885), by the American painter Elihu Vedder (1836-1923). These texts consist of: 1. the original poem by Sappho (ca. 630-570 BCE) in Aeolic Greek, which is considered to be one of the most exquisite brief lyrics in all history. 2. the original poem transcribed by myself into the early Greek syllabary, Mycenaean Linear B (ca. 1400-1200 BCE), which in turn I have transcribed into the alphabet so that you can read it aloud (even if you don't understand it). 3. the original poem transcribed by myself into the Greek syllabary, Arcado-Cypriot Linear C (ca. 1100-400 BCE), , which in turn I have transcribed into the alphabet so that you can read it aloud (even if you don't understand it). 4. My literal translation of Sappho's lyrics into English. 5. My literal translation of Sappho's lyrics into French. The text in the right pane is my own original haiku based on Sappho's lyrics. Les textes sur le panneau à gauche se superposent sur la peinture, Les Pléiades ( 1885 ), par le peintre américain Elihu Vedder ( 1836-1923 ). Les textes sont les suivants : 1. le poème originel par Sappho (vers 630 - 570 av. J.-C. ) en grec éolic, qu'on estime être l'un des poèmes lyriques des plus exquis dans toute l'histoire. 2. ce même poème que j'ai transcrit en Linéaire B mycénien (vers 1400 - 1200 av. J.-C. ), ce qu'on désigne une syllabaire. J'ai ensuite transcit ce text en caractères alphabétiques afin que vous puissiez le lire à haute voix, même si vous n'y comprenez rien. 3. the original poem transcribed by myself into the Greek syllabary, Arcado-Cypriot Linear C (ca. 1100-400 BCE), , which in turn I have transcribed into the alphabet so that you can read it aloud (even if you don't understand it). 4. My literal translation of Sappho's lyrics into English. 5. My literal translation of Sappho's lyrics into French. The text in the right pane is my own original haiku based on Sappho's lyrics.
This article with my translation of Sappho’s Ode, “The Moon has set, and the Pleiades...” into two archaic Greek dialects (Linear B & Linear C), as well as into English and French, is the first of its kind ever to appear on the Internet.
It will eventually be followed by my translations of several other splendid lyrics by Sappho, as well as by serial installments of my translation of the entire Catalogue of Ships in Book II of the Iliad by Homer, and several haiku which I have already composed in parallel Mycenaean Linear B, English & French (I kid you not!) If you would like to keep up with my ongoing research on academia.edu, you should probably sign yourself up with them, and follow me. Additionally, you can follow anyone else you like, especially those researchers, scholars and authors who are of particular interest to you (not me). And of course, once you have signed up with academia.edu, which is free, you can upload your own research papers, documents, articles, book reviews etc. to your heart’s content. Oh and by the way, we have a surprise coming up for you all, a research paper by none other than my co-administrator, Rita Roberts of Crete. Richard
Canadian Zen Haiku canadien ISSN 1705-4508 
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