Corvidius Wrote:
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> No, I'm not missing the point as I am responding
> to a post by Hans.
>
> I said that "sometimes" older translations can be
> better, but the reason is not what you think it
> is. Older translations can be more poetical, and
> that is because of the type of education and
> culture that was in existance some time ago,
> generally pre WWII or even WWI. Newer translations
> can be just as poetical, if that is what the
> original work needs, but can also be too literal,
> in my opinion. Which fits better, raising
> something up to Ra's nose for him to smell, or
> being as tall as his nose. The former gives more
> of the sense, the later just rather cold and
> literal.
>
> The rest of your reply has been more than
> adequately dealt with by Hans.

Poetry, meter, and flow are all fine but I'm more interested in the intended meaning of the authors. Obviously this is everyone's chief concern but then I seriously doubt that much author intent will ever be found in rhyme or any parsing of the text.

I had no intention of opening that other response to my post. You made me look. Just so we're clear here I believe I understand author intent in the Pyramid Texts by means of solving referents through context. It is NOT incantation or religious in nature. It is merely ritual. Later writing is incantation derived from a confusion of older writing. THIS, i can only guess how the confusion arose and what was meant. I don't work on this much because it is incantation and magic.

There are numerous clues that can be picked up, especially in the Coffin Texts, to the meaning of older language but the meaning in the Coffin Texts is confused in most instances. The "book of the dead" is layers of confusion I believe.

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Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.