[jtbayly]

A friend of mine was taking Akkadian or Sumerian (I can’t remember which) and described the wide range of possible correct translations of a text with a story from class.

One student said it was a receipt for the sale of a cow. The prof said that was one real possibility. Another said it was a love poem. Prof agreed again. :shrug:

But my favorite translation disagreement is from the Epic of Gilgamesh, I think, where one man insists the proper translation of a line is “the lords of the land of the blazing rockets.”

[xsmasher]

> One student said it was a receipt for the sale of a cow. The prof said that was one real possibility. Another said it was a love poem. Prof agreed again.

Isn't this the plot of "Foucault's Pendulum?"