# Greek translation help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653 "2004-09-29T11:42:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mauigrom23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@mauigrom23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mauigrom23)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/1 "2004-09-29T11:42:30Z")

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Howzit! This seems a bit shallow, but im getting a tattoo on my right arm in the next couple of weeks. I want it to be that spartan saying “with your shield or on it” but i want it to be in ancient greek and in the ancient geek alphabet. Can anyone here help?  
thanks much,  
mauigrom23

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/2 "2004-09-29T11:45:33Z")

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> [@mauigrom23](#):
>
> and in the ancient geek alphabet

Sorry, just swinging by to laugh and point. I’m sure a Greek, and/or geek, will be along in a moment.

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**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/3 "2004-09-29T11:50:26Z")

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This reminds me of that probably apocryphal story of the person who asks for a tattoo in japanese script, and the tattoo artist says that it says whatever they asked for, but in reality they get something rather uncomplimentary.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/4 "2004-09-29T13:45:39Z")

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“e ten e epi tes”: “either that or on that”.

In an approximation to Greek capital letters I guess it would be

H THN H E(capital pi)I THS

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/5 "2004-09-29T21:30:02Z")

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Una Persson’s article about this saying: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspartanmoms.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspartanmoms.html)

If the symbol tag works with your browser, you’ll see the Greek characters for the version Kimstu provided:

[symbol]H THN H EPI THS  
h thn h epi thV[/symbol]

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**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greek-translation-help/266653/6 "2004-09-29T21:54:47Z")

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> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> [symbol]H THN H EPI THS  
> h thn h epi thV[/symbol]

The above is correct, but it is written with Athenian spelling. The spartan spelling would be:

**Η ΤΑΝ Η ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ**