“and in your song most of all she rejoiced”

January 18, 2019 3:10 PM

Sappho’s Poems is a page put together by Sean B. Palmer that attempts “to collect Sappho's entire work together in one page — with Greek originals, succinct translations, and commentary”. Translators include J. M. Edmonds, H. T. Wharton, and Anne Carson.
posted by Kattullus (6 comments total)

OK, Edmonds's translations will be out of copyright, but does he have Carson's permission?
posted by praemunire at 3:15 PM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

Fun fact I just learned about Sappho:

According to the Suda, Sappho was married to Kerkylas of Andros. However, the name appears to have been invented by a comic poet: the name "Kerkylas" comes from the word "κέρκος" (kerkos), a possible meaning of which is "penis", and is not otherwise attested as a name, while "Andros", as well as being the name of a Greek island, is a form of the Greek word "ἀνήρ" (aner), which means man. Thus, the name may be a joke name, and as such could be rendered as "Dick Allcock from the Isle of Man".

posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:18 PM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

MetaFilter: the name appears to have been invented by a comic poet
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:22 PM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

praemunire: OK, Edmonds's translations will be out of copyright, but does he have Carson's permission?

That’s a good point. Palmer includes only a few (ten, I think) translations by Carson, but I don’t see anything to indicate that he did get her permission.

I’ll ask the mods to delete this post.
posted by Kattullus at 3:31 PM on January 18, 2019

Post is fine as it is.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:40 PM on January 18, 2019

This is what the internet was made for.
posted by gwint at 3:40 PM on January 18, 2019