[Agor] Vprasanje

[David Movrin]

Pozdrave,

ker kdo morda se ugiba, bom odgovoril v valizanscini: gre za knjigo Harri 
Potter a Maen yr Athronydd. Kot berem v prilozenem clanku, je latinski 
prevod mojstrski; lahko to potrdi kdo, ki ni del propagandnega stroja 
Rowlingove? Je vsaj jezikovno primerljiv z Medvedom Pujem Alexandra Lenarda, 
ki ga po desetih letih se vedno berem z nezmanjsano zavistjo? (Cur ursus 
clamat? Cur adeo mel amat? Burr, burr, burr, quid est causae cur?)

Se manj glamurozna novica,za ljubitelje ruscine in slovaropisja: na naslovu
http://gurin.tomsknet.ru/alpha.html
je v zgledno digitalizirani verziji na voljo sloviti Dvorecki, grsko-ruski 
slovar z vec kot 70.000 gesli. Pri nas je morda – vsaj pri mlajsih 
generacijah - res le pogojno uporaben, lahko pa pride prav kot navdih za 
digitalizacijo Doklerja.

David Movrin


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Can Harry Potter bring Latin back to life?

FRANK O’DONNELL AND DAVID ROBINSON
FIRST we had Winnie the Pooh (Winnie Ille Pu). Then there was Paddington 
Bear (Ursus Nomine Paddington).

Now Latin lovers everywhere are hoping that a translation of the first Harry 
Potter novel - Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis - will cast a fresh spell 
on the nation’s youth and prompt new interest in the language.

In July, Bloomsbury will publish the new version of JK Rowling’s first book, 
which will almost certainly become the biggest work of fiction to be 
translated into a dead language for a century.

More than 200 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold in 200 
countries, and the series has been widely credited with encouraging millions 
of youngsters to rediscover the written word.

Many Latin enthusiasts now hope that the translation can also revive an 
interest in a language that has been derided as elitist, irrelevant and 
boring, and which is struggling to assert itself in the crowded school 
curriculum.

Figures from the Scottish Qualifications Authority show that Latin is 
declining as an exam subject. Last year, 257 pupils sat Higher Latin and 700 
sat Standard Grade. This compares with 382 pupils at Higher and 1049 at 
Standard Grade in 1997.

Pat Brown, a Latin teacher from Fife, has been successful in teaching the 
language to children as young as nine, using a text called Minimus, a 
1,900-year-old cartoon mouse who spars in comic strips with the cat 
Vibrissa.

She described the Potter translation as "a wonderful idea".

She said: "I think every school should teach Latin, not as a dry discipline 
but as something that’s fun to learn. If Harry Potter is in Latin a lot of 
kids will make an effort to read that because they will want to show how 
clever they are."

Ms Brown added: "They will be quite familiar with the text anyway and it 
will give them a sense of kudos to say, ‘I can read this in Latin’.

"A lot has to be packed into the Scottish curriculum and we neglect Latin as 
something that only posh schools do. It is seen as a frill, an extra. 
There’s also the problem of a lack of teachers - we are depriving a lot of 
pupils from Latin because schools are not offering it."

Significantly, the translation is said to have the enthusiastic backing of 
JK Rowling herself, the author who is now based in Edinburgh, the Athens of 
the North. She started out studying French and Classics at Exeter University 
before switching to French, and her books are littered with classical 
references.

Hogwarts School has a Latin motto, Draco dormiens numquam titillandus (Never 
tickle a sleeping dragon), while Fluffy, the three-headed dog that guards 
the philosopher’s stone, is reminiscent of the underworld dog Cerberus.

The spells which Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione so often struggle 
with also have Latin roots, such as "Expelliarmus", which is used to disarm 
an opponent.

In the United States, there is already evidence that the Latin references 
within the text have cast a spell on American classrooms, with reports of a 
surge in interest from high school pupils.

After years of decline, the numbers taking Latin for college credits has 
jumped by 80 per cent since the first Potter book was published in the US 
six years ago.

This year, about 123,000 students will take the National Latin Exam, 
compared with 53,000 in 1985.

Hollywood has also added to the interest with films such as Gladiator.

For the Latin edition of Harry Potter, the publisher has hired Peter 
Needham, who taught the subject at Eton College for 30 years. He has been 
translating the 252 pages at the rate of one a day.

The opening of Rowling’s original version - "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number 
four, Privet Drive" becomes "Dominus et Domina Dursley, qui vivebant in 
aedibus Gestationis Ligustorum numero quattor".

Translating into Latin is a rare skill, but Mr Needham’s efforts have won 
the approval of those classicists who have seen it. James Morwood, an Oxford 
University lecturer, said: "This translation is great stuff.

"It is accurate and fluent, but it is much more than that," he explained. 
"It has been carried off with wit, inventiveness and panache. I find it 
impossible to think of it being better done."

Harrius Potter will be published by Bloomsbury in July - on the same day as 
Harri Potter maen yr Athronydd, the first translation into Welsh.

Translations into ancient Greek and even Zulu are also being prepared.

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