i needed a distraction so i translated Bad Bunny's section from the song "Está Rico" (w/ Marc Anthony and Will Smith) into Ancient Greek hexameter.
there's a lot of nuance. it's also rather crude. i wanted to see how a dead language would hold up.
let's dive in.
there's a lot of nuance. it's also rather crude. i wanted to see how a dead language would hold up.
let's dive in.
in line 1 i had to simply the meaning a bit to fit everything in the verse. so instead of "if you have a bf, don't tell," my version reads "don't tell me about any bf" (φράζω + GEN 'tell of')
i translate 'mami' with νῆνι, the vocative of a dial. form of νεᾶνις 'young woman'
i translate 'mami' with νῆνι, the vocative of a dial. form of νεᾶνις 'young woman'
in l. 2, θελχθέντι is a masc dat participle ='enchanted' that agrees with μοι in l. 1.
i changed '[enchanted] with this (ese) butt' to 'with YOUR (τεῇ) butt.'
"culo" is a pretty coarse word; i don't know that πυγή can render that aspect of it, but at it means 'butt'
i changed '[enchanted] with this (ese) butt' to 'with YOUR (τεῇ) butt.'
"culo" is a pretty coarse word; i don't know that πυγή can render that aspect of it, but at it means 'butt'
1 of my favorite bits is this parenthetical "Dios lo bendiga" (may God bless it) where lo = ese culo.
i think it works well as one of those Homeric not-quite-relative clauses with a demonstrative (like τὸν ... τέκε Λητώ in Il. 1.36): τὴν αἰνεέτω Ζεύς 'may Zeus approve of it!'
i think it works well as one of those Homeric not-quite-relative clauses with a demonstrative (like τὸν ... τέκε Λητώ in Il. 1.36): τὴν αἰνεέτω Ζεύς 'may Zeus approve of it!'
in l. 3 we have the interjection 'ey' taking up the entire 1st hemistich. i thought it made sense to go with ὤμοι ἐγώ 'oh, my'.
where the Spanish has 'bring your friends,' the Gk says 'gather many companions with you.'
where the Spanish has 'bring your friends,' the Gk says 'gather many companions with you.'
dura = 'hot' (lit. 'firm').
l. 4 was challenging bc i did not want to translate 'dura (x3)' with a 3x-repeated word in Gk; so i took εὐφυής 'shapely, well-formed' and stretched it out a bit into its fem. superlative form, with εὐ- also becoming ἠϋ- for metrical reasons.
l. 4 was challenging bc i did not want to translate 'dura (x3)' with a 3x-repeated word in Gk; so i took εὐφυής 'shapely, well-formed' and stretched it out a bit into its fem. superlative form, with εὐ- also becoming ἠϋ- for metrical reasons.
"ella no tiene liga" lit. means "she doesn't have a league"; in other words, everyone is out of her league, or she has no comparison. in Greek i have "no one could rival (ἐρίζω) her in beauty," with τὸ κάλλος 'beauty' in the accusative of respect/limitation.
the first 1/2 of l. 5 seems a bit unconnected in the Spanish (="from here to the boat") but i preserved that in Gk (with νῆα 'ship' for 'boat').
the 2nd half of l. 5 i translate as a vocative phrase.
chiquita -> γυνή is a little bland, i know. however, i do like περίευρυς 'exceedingly broad,' with γλουτώ being a *dual* (=buttocks) accusative of limitation (like πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς "Achilles swift w/r/t foot")
chiquita -> γυνή is a little bland, i know. however, i do like περίευρυς 'exceedingly broad,' with γλουτώ being a *dual* (=buttocks) accusative of limitation (like πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς "Achilles swift w/r/t foot")
for l. 6, ἐμέ 'me' serves double duty as the object of both verbs in the Greek.
me lo hace ricote = she does it to me very well
ῥέζω 'to work, perform' is a great verb that makes it sound almost ritualistic; and it is cognate with both ἔργον and English 'work.'
me lo hace ricote = she does it to me very well
ῥέζω 'to work, perform' is a great verb that makes it sound almost ritualistic; and it is cognate with both ἔργον and English 'work.'
the 2nd half of l. 6: "she makes me horny and makes it show" (i.e. makes it so that it's visibly apparent; use your imagination).
for poner bellaco, i have ἐν φρεσὶν ἐγείρει 'arouses [my] senses.'
i'm told bellaco is a fairly vulgar word. sorry about that.
for poner bellaco, i have ἐν φρεσὶν ἐγείρει 'arouses [my] senses.'
i'm told bellaco is a fairly vulgar word. sorry about that.
the last part of this line (y hace que se note) was impossible to do proper justice to while keeping everything within a single line. i've rendered it simply as the adj δῆλον 'apparent, obvious' which agrees with ἐμέ. "she arouses my senses, such that i am obvious about it."
in l. 7 it gets fun. it's too much to squeeze into one Gk line, but everything is crucial (so that a pun later in l. 8 makes sense), so one verb does spill over into l. 8.
the Sp has "put on your spray (perfume); let's go to the shade b/c today i'm going to do those [shades] of Grey to you."
as in "50 Shades of Grey." i didn't want to use any proper nouns in the Gk, so i changed "las de Grey" into τὰς πεντήκοντα, "the 50 [shades]"
as in "50 Shades of Grey." i didn't want to use any proper nouns in the Gk, so i changed "las de Grey" into τὰς πεντήκοντα, "the 50 [shades]"
this, of course, means that the line ends in a spondee, not a dactyl. but hey, if Homer did it 1/20 of the time, i think 1/8 should be allowed for me, a noob.
note also that the ONLY way i could compact 'into the shade' was by borrowing the allative suffix: σκιήνδε 'shadowwards'
note also that the ONLY way i could compact 'into the shade' was by borrowing the allative suffix: σκιήνδε 'shadowwards'
the orig l. 8 has "if you want, i'll throw/put (echar) another (sc. *spray*) to you, but [first] give me a break."
so, again, use your imagination.
so, again, use your imagination.
to make this pun work i needed to make sure that l. 8 contains the active counterpart (χέω, 1sg subj) of the aorist middle participle (χευαμένη) from l. 7.
for ἄλλο, sc. μύρον 'perfume' based on μύρα in l. 7.
μετὰ παῦλαν = 'after a break/cessation'
for ἄλλο, sc. μύρον 'perfume' based on μύρα in l. 7.
μετὰ παῦλαν = 'after a break/cessation'
the Greek may not be perfect (i was looking fruitlessly for a good translation of 'horny' for a long time, finding only κεράτινος 'made of horn') but it was a fun composition exercise.
here's an English version of the end result
here's an English version of the end result
and though i consider myself a Spanish speaker at this point, i could NOT have paid such attention to detail without @Pattzruiz to guide me through certain confusing structures, esp. the ins and outs of Puerto Rican slang.

oh yeah, and check out the song:
our section in question begins at 1:45.
our section in question begins at 1:45.