I don’t read ancient Greek, so I can’t go to the source material of The Odyssey and figure out for myself what particular terms meant at the time of their writing. Or what they mean now. Or what the best translation of a word or phrase might be. Instead, I have to rely on a translator.
Much like tasting a beer, different reader-translators discover different notes that linger within the text. One translator’s “cedar” may be another’s “pine.” Some of that may be due to methodology and some of it may be due to one’s own tastes and biases. But, just as though I like reading beer tasting notes of other drinkers, I likewise seeing what “notes” a reader-translator finds in a text.
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From Book 5. Calypso’s cave.
“Beside the hearth a mighty fire was burning. / The scent of citrus and of brittle pine / suffused the island.” (Wilson, V, 59-61)
“A great fire / blazed on the hearth and the smell of cedar / cleanly split and sweetwood burning bright / wafted a cloud of fragrance down the island.” (Fagles, V, 64-67)
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From Book 5. More Calypso’s cave.
“The meadow softly bloomed with celery / and violets.” (Wilson, V, 72-73)
“Soft meadows spreading round were starred with violets, / lush with beds of parsley.” (Fagles, V, 80-81)
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From Book 7. The orchard of Alcinous.
“The trees are tall, luxuriant with fruit: / bright-colored apples, pears and pomegranate, sweet figs and fertile olives…” (Wilson, VII, 115-117)
“Here luxuriant trees are always in their prime, / pomegranates and pears, and apples glowing red, / succulent figs and olives swelling sleek and dark.” (Fagles, VII, 132-134)
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Different approaches to the poetry and to the poetry of the translation lead to different notes, different terms. Citrus and pine versus sweetwood and cedar. Celery versus parsley. The same olives, but fertile in one instance and swelling sleek and dark in another.
If I too could taste these words without help, without them being fed to me on a baby's spoon, what flavors would I find there?
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