Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexBell
One of the books features a 'magic ring' which the first time it is mentioned is called Pentarbë, with the e having an umlaut. Every other time it is mentioned it is called Pentarbč, with the e having a grave accent. Is there any consensus as to whether it is best to have the spelling consistent? Or leave the diacritic as is?
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I agree with those who voted for consistency as the key criterion. I also did some research on "pantarbe" and can share what I found.
In the online version of the Liddell-Scott-Jones
Greek-English Lexicon (which is available for free at
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/ [although it requires registration]), "pantarbe" is defined as 'a precious stone (perhaps ruby)':
pantarbe
One of the standard methods of transliterating the Greek characters yields "pantarbe" [its word-final 'e' has a long vowel mark (macron)]. I suspect that the 'e' with an accent grave in Rowland Smith's translation was the closest they could get to reproducing an 'e' with a macron.
(I also suspect that the variant found in Rowland Smith, an 'e' with an umlaut, is an OCR / scanning error. I'd vote for ignorning that variant).
"Pantarbe" is also related to the adjective "pantarbes" ('fearing all'):
pantarbes
Moses Hadas uses "Pantarbe" [with initial capital] consistently in his translation of the
Aethiopica (University of Michigan Press, 1957).
Another tidbit I learned is that "pantarbe" is mentioned in Philostratus'
Life of Apollonius as a precious stone from India, which draws other gemstones to it when it is lowered into a river or sea. In Heliodorus, however, Pantarbe protects its bearer against the effects of fire; this is important for Chariclea, who is captured at the novel's climax and is to be burned at the stake as a sacrificial victim. (Not to worry, though ... the flames miraculously refuse to touch her, Theagenes is recognized as her legitimate betrothed and the couple is married).