Talk:Hymn to Liberty

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the largest in the world[edit]

the greek national anthem is the largest in the world with 158 stanzas-i thing that is a to serious thing not to writen here-

That is not technically correct; only the first two stanzas are part of the national anthem, as the article correctly states.67.193.243.184 (talk) 21:10, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hymn or Ode?[edit]

Shouldn't ύμνος be translated as Ode instead of Hymn? The English hymn refers mostly to religious music. Ode is much better suited. The poetic transation provided in this page also gives ύμνος as ode. See for example, Solomos, Dionysios. Ode to Liberty. George D. Canale, tr. into both prose and verse with a biographical sketch of the poet and notes. Zante: Constantine Rossolimo Publisher, 1861. 13 p. Bilingual edition.

I suggest the title to be changed to ode. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.5.241.167 (talk) 10:18, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You may have a point, but I wouldn't change it to ode, simply because it's known fairly universally as the Hymn to Liberty in English.67.193.243.184 (talk) 21:05, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Hymn" need not be reserved for religious music, but any composition of decor and dignity, for example, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tachypaidia (talk • contribs) 08:50, 24 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Κόκκαλα or Κόκαλα?[edit]

Is the double κ not used anymore?--83.146.62.97 01:15, 16 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The original had double-kappa [1], spelling has changed since. Andreas 02:11, 16 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Normally it is used. But in most parts of Greece the double kappa is not pronounced anymore, as no other double non-vowel is pronounced. In Cyprus, where I am from and I speak the dialect myself, though(and in other parts of Greece) we still pronounce them. There are many Greek dialects where they are pronounced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.153.31.97 (talk) 00:05, 7 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Greek characters[edit]

An earlier comment:

Unfortunately, we can't read the Greek characters with our non-Greek browsers: could you please redo the Greek passage either in UTF-8 or as HTML entities, like this: ΑΒΓ αβγ

I hope that fixed the Greek characters: I set my charset to Windows-1252, cut, went to edit and pasted back the chars.

FWIW, I see no Greek characters in the article. If you want them read you need to find another method. -- Someone else 22:26 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)
I see good-looking Unicode codes in the source of the article, and real Greek characters under IE5+W2K. Perhaps is the problem with your browser, and/or the font it uses ? FvdP
Same here: Good Greek letters from Unicode entities -- WORKSFORME with Mozilla running on Linux. -- Anon.
probably... could be a Mac thingy, though I'm using IE5 and have tried UTF-8, Western, etc encodings. W2K? Not having much experience putting non-Latin characters in web-pages, I know only that I can see them when HTML encoded like on this page, but they look oriental in the source article. If I'm the only one, fine, not much loss... -- Someone else 22:40 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)

The Greek characters look fine to me when I use mozilla, although I cannot see them when I use netscape. But dammit, someone's put in accents that look to us Linux and other Unix users like question marks! Could those be corrected? This always happens with Microsoft "smart quotes"; people write "the legistlature?s intent was", etc. -- Mike Hardy

No question marks here, with Red Hat Linux and Mozilla 1.2.1. Just Greek chars, some with and some without accents. -- Anon.

I have now added a second version, using α etc. As I know of browsers that don't show this kind of text, I haven't deleted the original version. Is it acceptable to include both versions, so that most people can at least get one of them correctly? -- dnjansen 00:13 Jan 3, 2003 (UTC)

The title Yμνoς πρoς την Eλευθεριαν can be transcribed according to the old Greek (assumed) pronunciation to Hýmnos pròs tèn Eleutherían or according to the new Greek pronunciation to Imnos (or Innos) pros tin Eleftherian. In no case is the spelling Eλεφθεριαν, transcribed to Elephtherian (as found in an older version of this page) correct. In new Greek, ευ is transcribed (and pronounced similar to) ev or ef, depending on the following sound (for example, Eυαγγελιoν Evangelion, "Gospel"). A single υ is transcribed (and pronounced) as i. In addition, h is no more pronounced. I move the article to the new Greek transcription, as the hymn is new Greek. -- dnjansen 22:17 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)

Could "Hymnos pros tin Eleutherian" be a good way of transliterating this title? I've written a number of queries on talk pages about transliteration conventions from Greek into Roman characters; maybe some knowledgeable person could answer those in an article devoted to the topic. See Talk:Mount Athos and Talk:Transliteration. -- Mike Hardy

A transliteration for old Greek would be Hymnos pros tēn Eleutherian or Eleytherian, probably even with the accents, as shown above. (For older browsers: The letter ē should be shown as an e with an overline.) A transliteration for new Greek would be Ymnos pros tēn Eleutherian or Eleytherian, also with some accents (different from old Greek). The H is neither written nor pronounced in new Greek, so it should not be transliterated.
I have used transcriptions in my contributions. Although they are in some cases less exact, it is easier for most people to pronounce the words at least approximately correct. (Remember, however, that Greek pronounce the vowel transcribed by i similar to English ee in geese.)
To answer Mike Hardy's question: I think not. tin is a new Greek transcription, where the old pronunciation of η as [ε:] is replaced by the new one as [i] (so-called itacism). However, the rest (hymnos and eleutherian) are old Greek transcriptions/transliterations. Of course, the change in pronunciation from old to new Greek did occur gradually, so at some time mixing of the pronunciations must have occurred. However, as it is not fully clear that υ has changed from y to i (in hymnos) after η changed from e to i, the mixing should be avoided anyway.
I would further argue that this hymn is a new-Greek text and should be transcribed/transliterated according to new Greek pronunciation/script. -- dnjansen 00:13 Jan 3, 2003 (UTC)

Under what name is the subject of this article best known in English? If it's Hymn to Freedom then the article should be moved to there and a redirect for Imnos pros tin Eleftherian should be set up. --Robert Merkel 23:07 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)

Done. The Anome 23:10 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)

Re: the comment in the article text about the letters in []. The [ει] is optional, and based on regional differences (that class of verbs has different present-tense conjugations in the 1st and 3rd persons depending on where in Greece you're from). Not as sure about the [ν]; I think it might technically go there, but is usually dropped when actually saying the phrase, as "tin ghi" is a bit of an awkward juxtaposition of sounds. --Delirium 16:32 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I added a more literal English translation. Feel free to correct as necessary. Kipling does a good job capturing the spirit of the poem in English, and includes all the major points, but it's a very loose translation. The literal translation is a much worse poem, but I thought it might be useful. --Delirium 17:44 3 Jul 2003 (UTC)

--- Gentlemen, you are all wrong! Please find a 100% Greek person to help you with answering all your questions. Do not speculate, just open a book and do your homework. I guess, what us Greeks are now supposed to do, is go start a web page complete with pointless speculations about the "Star Spangled Banner" or the "God Save the King". Please ... don't we have anything better to do?!?


I agree!You are indeed all wrong. I am Greek. It is as simple as that. The poem was written in "old" Greek, namely the Katharevousa. It just doesn´t make difference. The changes were simply made in order to make the language easier grammatically speaking. the sole difference in th title of the poem is the eis which means to. The eis tin of katharevousa became stin in dimotikh. There is nothing of katharevousa a native greek speaker would not understand today. It is the exact same language. The same way english has changed and for instance thy God has become your God. The pronounciation of Katharevousa is not "assumed" as mentioned before.It is well known. Fyi the lines that make up the Greek national anthem are exactly as Solomos wrote them. Nothing has changed.

Regarding the transliteration in Latin I think the point is to achieve the exact hearing and pronounciation of the word as in it´s original tongue. I think that would be best achieved with "hymnos eis tin Eleftherian". And anyway to be frank it is not such an important issue..!

I'd like just to comment and give emphasis on what i think is of some importance.

The Hymn doesn't praise greeks, money, land, god or anything.

It is a hymn to freedom. And actually that's what the title says: Hymn to FREEDOM

read it as such, and don't let the mentioning of swords, bones and deaths misguide you.

Modern spelling - Monotonic[edit]

Should one leave the ancient spelling as written by Solomos, or should one use modern spelling (κόψη instead of κόψι) and monotonic accentuation? Maybe both?

Removed nonsense transcription[edit]

It does not make sense to transcribe a modern Greek text in a way as if it were a text in classical ancient Greek from the time of Plato. The poem is written in Modern Greek. Fot the pronunciation of Greek, see Greek language#Phonology. Andreas 02:46, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

wikisource[edit]

A link to the wikisource could perhaps replace the missing content, but I'm not sure how to do it (is there a wikisource template?). talk to +MATIA 09:29, 13 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

wikisource:el:Ύμνος_είς_την_Ελευθερίαν Andreas 00:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Bravo Andreas! talk to +MATIA 01:04, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cyprus[edit]

Cyprus became independent in 1960 as a bi-ethnic state. If anybody knows when the hymn became the cypriot anthem please insert the date. According to http://david.national-anthems.net/cy.htm this was in the 1970's, no date is given.   Andreas   (T) 02:25, 23 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

1974....should be obvious as to why.
Φilhellenism 23:40, 7 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Liberty or Freedom[edit]

The traditional english rendering of the title is "Hymn to Liberty". Note that all 3 translations given in english render "Ελευθεριά" as "Liberty". Αccordingly, I propose that the name of the article be changed to follow this convention. Any objections? sys < in 21:12, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

None by me. Go ahead. NikoSilver 21:19, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I support the idea.--Domitius 23:50, 17 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't strongly object, but it seems "Hymn to Freedom" is the more common and more official translation. It's used by, for example, the Greek Presidency and the UK's Guardian newspaper. If we google-search for each term with +greece -wikipedia, the freedom version gets about four times as many hits. But I don't care much either way, since the two translations are about equally good/bad. --Delirium 05:06, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

One interesting observation: Liberty and Eleutheria are cognate from PIE *leudho [2][3].sys < in 07:25, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Literal English translation[edit]

The second verse was translated as: I recognize you from the gleam which with force surveys the earth.

In this translation βια means βία translating to English as force, I believe is generally accepted that in the Hymn to Liberty, βια means βιασύνη, translating to English as haste so I changed the verse to:

I recognize you from the gleam which with haste surveys the earth.

Can anyone provide a reliable source for either way? --Chris Ssk talk 20:51, 25 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Βια doesn't stand for Βιασυνη you fool, it means violence and I should know cause I'm Greek — Preceding unsigned comment added by Georgeturbo (talk • contribs) 13:20, 29 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

According to the Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής (Dictionary of Common New Greek) βία can certainly have both meanings:
βία η [vía] Ο25α : [...] 2. η βιασύνη, η σπουδή: [...];

βια η [vjá] Ο24 (χωρίς πληθ.) : (λαϊκότρ.) βιασύνη, βία2   		 Vía i [...] 2. hurry, haste: [...]

Vja i (popular) hurry, vía2
Qoan (say it!) 09:05, 15 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

About polytonic orthography[edit]

Since 1982 the monotonic is the only official writing system in Greece, and from then on most editions of Solomos' works are written in this system. What is shownthis reference is a image from the first edition (Mesolonghi, 1823) and in no sense is an official document or, anyway, a more official one than the law abolishing the polytonic system. As about the way Solomos wrote it, the official web site of the Solomos Museum offers a copy of two pages of the original manuscript which show that he wrote it both without mostly any tones and with some orthographic errors. It was first published in polytonic system and with katharevousian orthography because it was the system in force then, regardless the way Solomos wrote it first. Qoan (say it!) 13:15, 26 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Translation[edit]

In the literal translation I found a mistake, which of course I corrected. Someone had written "fearsome sword". The word "fearsome" reffers to the sharpness of the sword, not the sword itself. "Sharpness" in Greek is female and "sword" is neutral. "Fearsome is an adjective which in this text is female, hence it's obvious which word it reffers to. Take my word for it. I sing that anthem on every national holiday. Ariana-hime (talk) 07:04, 28 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"It is currently the only national anthem which is shared by two countries"[edit]

This statement is incorrect. God Save the Queen is used by a number of countries.Ncox (talk) 08:52, 23 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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When 2 verses?[edit]

Article currently says; [In 1865, the first three stanzas (and later the first two) officially became the national anthem of Greece...]

No reference cited. Got a year for “later”? MBG02 (talk) 03:56, 27 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

IPA transliteraton[edit]

The IPA rendering the modern Greek pronounciation of the text is quite Athenian in its pronounciation, which is fine I think, but there are some cases of Sandhi (see the article on Modern Greek phonology) that maybe should be put in (as marked in bold)?

[s̠e̞ ɣno̞ˈɾiz̠o̞̯ɐpo̞ tiŋ ˈgo̞ps̠i]

[tu s̠pɐˈθçu tin ˌdro̞me̞ˈɾi |]

[s̠e̞ ɣno̞ˈɾiz̠o̞̯ɐpo̞ tin ˈo̞ps̠i |]

[pu me̞ ˈvʝä me̞ˌträi̯ ti ˈʝi ‖]


[ɐp tɐ ˈko̞kɐˌlä vɣɐlˈme̞ni]

[to̞n e̞ˈlino̞n tɐ i̯e̞ˈɾä |]

𝄆 [ˌce̞ s̠ɐm ˈbro̞tɐ ɐn̪ðri̯o̞ˈme̞ni |]

[ˌçe̞ɾe̞̯o̞ ˈçe̞ɾe̞ | e̞le̞fθe̞ɾˈʝä ‖] 𝄇

In my view, this is normally how it is sung. Ronnlund (talk) 15:10, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Ronnlund, apologies but there is no Greek word go̞ps̠i but oˈpsi, no Greek word dro̞me̞ˈɾi but tromeriˈ

furthermore, the "cutting" of the words is incorrect e.g.

The final word in the first line is κόψη, not όψη, as it rhymes with the όψη of line three. My transliteration of the pronounciation of την κόψη is [tiŋ ˈgo̞ps̠i], I don't say that the word is *γκόψη. In the same way, την τρομερή is pronounced [tin ˌdro̞me̞ɾi], because of Sandhi, similarly as δεν πειράζει is [ðe ˌbiˈraˌzi] and not *[ðen ˌpiˈraˌzi].--Ronnlund (talk) 20:39, 25 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

[s̠e̞ ɣno̞ɾi'z̠o̞̯ ɐpo̞' tiŋ o̞'ps̠i]

[tu s̠pɐθiu' tin ˌtro̞me̞ɾi' |]

[s̠e̞ ɣno̞ɾi'z̠o̞̯ ɐpo̞' tin o̞'ps̠i |]

[pu me̞ vʝäˈ me̞träˈi̯ ti ˈʝi ‖]


[ɐp tɐ ko̞ˈkkɐlä vɣɐlme̞ˈni]

[to̞n e̞lliˈno̞n tɐ i̯e̞ɾäˈ |]

𝄆 [ˌke̞ s̠ɐn pro̞ˈtɐ ɐn̪ðri̯o̞me̞ˈni |]

[ˌçe̞ˈɾe̞̯ o̞ çe̞ˈɾe̞ | e̞le̞fθe̞ɾʝäˈ ‖] 𝄇

[Note: The sign (ˈ) following the vowel is were the tone must be placed (on the vowel)].

I hope that I've been helpful!

With kindest regards --Aristo Class (talk) 11:36, 31 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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