my name is cat
and im upset
that no attent
is given yet
my human looks
at thin white sheets
instead of look
at me the treat
onto the top
now do i jump
where yarn ball sits
and i shall bump
it out of place
and here i meow
they look at me
lesson for thou
You can publish this, no problem!
This is the original poem: my name is Cow, and wen its nite, or wen the moon is shiyning brite, and all the men haf gon to bed - i stay up late. i lik the bred.
And this is my half attempt
Βους εἰμί (I thought to use a simpler I am a cow, rather than my name is)
και <when> Νυξ (no idea which one of the many translation of when use. Also to avoid the repetition of the verb to be I was thinking either to not use the verb or to say "when the night fall")
ου <when> Σελήνη διαγλαυσσει (according to the dictionary the verb means exactly to shine bright. Not sure if using a present or a participle)
και πάντες άνδρες ἐκοίμησαν (I prefer ανδρεσ το ανθροποι. I found that κοιμαω means also to go to bed. Unsure about using the participle or the aorist (they have gone to bed))
εγώ κατοψέ διαγρυπνέω
( εγώ) σῖτον λείχω
Oh I’ve seen this before 😂 I made some changes in an attempt to give the text some more flow. Of course the original poem doesn’t exactly have a flow but I opted for what might be a way Greek was spoken. For example I changed some verbs for the participles or adjectives and I got rid of εστί or too many εγώ because they were indeed often avoided. I think everything you wrote was grammatically correct, I just went with instinct about the way it might have been phrased back then. Whether my attempt is correct or not I don’t know, but I tried 😅
Τό ἐμὸν ὄνομα βοῦς,
ὅτε δέ γίγνεται νύξ
ἤ ὑπό σελήνης ἀγλαοῦ
καί ἀνδρών τε πάντων καθευδηκόντων,
ἐγώ ὀψέ ἀγρυπνέω
σῖτον λείχω.
Contextual transliteration for non-Greek speakers
Modern pronunciation:
To emón ónoma vus
Óte ðe yíɣnete nix
Ee ipó selínis aɣlaú
Ke anðrón te pándon kathevðikóndon
Eɣó opsé aɣripnéo
Síton lího
As close as I can go to the ancient pronunciation with the latin characters: