translating middle with dative and genitive

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godingly
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translating middle with dative and genitive

Post by godingly »

I'm trying to translate: "The virgins adore the gifts that are carried by the young men to the goddess" - i.e. the gifts are carried to the goddess by the young men. my attempt is:
αἱ παρθένοι θαυμάζουσι τά τῇ θεῶ ὐπὸ τῶν νέων φέρονται δῶρα

I've said 'carried by the young men to the goddess' is an adjective of gifts, so I'll put it between the definite article τά and its noun δῶρα.
All we have learned so far is present active indicative/imperative/infinitive and present middle-passive indicative/imperative/infinitive/participles, and they are supposed to suffice for translating this sentence.

I have several problems:
1) How to translate 'to the goddess'? is τῇ θεῶ correct?
2) what is the grammatical role of 'to the goddess'? where should I put it?
3) how should I translate the sentence? my attempt seemed cumbersome, and probably faulty.

polemistes
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Re: translating middle with dative and genitive

Post by polemistes »

This does not look bad at all to me, but my Greek is also not at a level where I could say exactly how this should be translated.

But I think φέρονται should be φέροντα to get the plural neuter participle and not the 3rd person plural mid/pass.

Hylander
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Re: translating middle with dative and genitive

Post by Hylander »

is τῇ θεῶ correct?
You need an iota subscript under the ω.

Your translation is ok, except that instead of φερονται you need a neuter present middle-passive participle, φερομενα.
Bill Walderman

polemistes
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Re: translating middle with dative and genitive

Post by polemistes »

Yes, of course, as Hylander points out, I was quite sloppy... the middle-passive it must be.

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