ἔρανοι, ἐρανισταί, κοινόν ἐρανιστών, ἐρανικαὶ δίκαι, ἐρανικὸς νόμος, ἐράνου φορά, εράνου καταβολή· κατενεγκεῖν τὸν ἔρανον, πληρώσασθαι τὸν ἔρανον, ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν φοράν. ἔοικε δ' ἂν τοῖς ἔρανισταῖς καὶ οἱ συμμορῖται, και συμμορία καὶ ...(Pollux 144)

[droodman]

Full text is:

έρανοι, ερκνίΰταί, χοινόν ερανιατών, ίρανιχαΐ δίχαι, ερανιχός νόμος, εράνου φορά, εράνου χαταβολή ' χατενεγχεϊν τον 'έρανον, πληρώΰαΰ&αί τον 'έρανον, εχλιπεϊν την φοράν, εοιχε §' αν τοις ερανιοταΐξ χαι οι ΰνμμορϊται, και συμμορία χαι το παρ' Ύπερίδΐ] μετοιχιχής συμμορίας ταμίας.

I apologize: I know this is more than 12 words. I am writing a book about microcredit, the practice of giving small loans to poor people to improve their lives. I work for a non-profit (charitable) group in Washington, DC, called the Center for Global Development. I understand that the passage above, from Pollux 8 144 relates to an Ancient Greek practice or institution that in some ways is like modern microfinance. I copied this from the Omnasticon on Google books: http://books.google.com/books?id=gep9CL61Go0C&printsec=frontcover#PRA1-PA356,M1. It is cited in footnote 120 on page 210 of Edward Cohen's Athenian Economy & Society: A Banking Perspective http://books.google.com/books?id=74Jpiw09mJIC&pg=PP1&ots=Z1TclMKRN8&sig=mmqXkPdPu2gvXusoIkh3Bip65Xs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA210,M1

I will be grateful for any help you can offer translating it. Thank you.

David Roodman
www.cgdev.org

[billberg23]

It seems safe to rely on Cohen's description of the practice of extending loans (ἔρανοι) from a benevolent association or company (ἔρανος or συμμορία).  Pollux (in Cohen's footnote 120) simply presents a glossary of terms relating to such loans, — their payment, default, etc.  And as Cohen points out, there is no mention of interest.
So I'm not sure a detailed translation of all those terms would be terribly useful to you.  There are some members here, however, who are more familiar with financial terms than I, and who may be willing to provide a detailed translation for a reasonable fee.  See the "Post a Translation Job!" section of this Forum.

P.S.  And fire your copyist!  :-)))

[droodman]

Thank you, billberg23. As you say, perhaps someone else can add more. I apologize for the bad copy. The copyist is Google Books's OCR software! You can see the typeset original at the links I provided.
--David