Translation - Μετάφραση

Translation Assistance => Other language pairs => English->Ancient Greek Translation Forum => Topic started by: sandy on 14 Nov, 2007, 09:58:32

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: sandy on 14 Nov, 2007, 09:58:32

first sorry if i posted this on the wrong place.

Need a little help on this... what is the best translation of this phrase?... "friendship is essential to the soul" .... i can translate it but maybe i will  not put the right words


Thank you .

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: anastasie on 14 Nov, 2007, 23:42:22

Maybe the simplest translation would be:

... η φιλία είναι σημαντική για την ψυχή...

but again it depends on the rest of the sentence...

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: banned8 on 15 Nov, 2007, 00:25:53

Perhaps a bit stronger:

Η φιλία είναι απαραίτητη για την ψυχή.

More poetically:
Η φιλία είναι το οξυγόνο της ψυχής. (Friendship is oxygen to the soul.)

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: sandy on 15 Nov, 2007, 01:02:11

that is what i thought it means

well someone actually asked me about this, he didn't explain well what he wanted he wants  to know the meaning Friendship is Essential to the Soul
that comes from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity that come from the initials of the Greek phrase meaning "Friendship is Essential to the Soul ......  ΩΨΦ

so is the meaning is the same ? Η φιλία είναι απαραίτητη για την ψυχή.?
i saw somewhere that someone said Ω μεγάλη τή ψυχή φιλία 

BTW thanks for the replies ..

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: banned8 on 15 Nov, 2007, 01:18:39

Oh that story. I hadn't seen this post: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/46241

But the Fraternity claim that it comes from the ancient Greek

Ὠφέλημα Ψυχῇ Φιλία

though they seem to misspell the dative of the second word. Word for word: Profitable to the soul [is] frienship.

Their version here: http://www.texascollege.edu/pdf/Omega%20Psi%20Phi%20Application.pdf

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: sandy on 15 Nov, 2007, 02:17:39

thank you  for the answer :)

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: Jerry Aurand on 18 Nov, 2020, 03:53:08

ωφελείται φῐλῐ́ᾱ ψῡχῇ

Friendship is beneficial for the soul.

Title: friendship is essential to the soul -> ὠφέλημα ψυχῇ φιλία
Post by: billberg23 on 18 Nov, 2020, 06:13:09

Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus all stressed the value of friendship for us “ensouled creatures”, e.g. Nicomachean Ethics 1155a.5 “Friendship is essential for our life;”  however, none of their affirmations in the original Greek match the letters of the fraternity’s name (except, of course, for Φ, the first letter of the word for “friendship” [φιλία]).  While the founders of Omega Psi Phi may well have been influenced by the view of those philosophers, the actual words those founders came up with in Greek did not quote an ancient author, but were their own, or were at least composed by someone who knew ancient Greek.  So Ὠφέλημα Ψυχῇ Φιλία is most likely the fraternity’s original name. 
Jerry, your translation is correct, but you’ve transposed the words so that they don’t match the letters of the fraternity’s name.  Probably best to uphold the traditional Ὠφέλημα Ψυχῇ Φιλία.