This is off topic but we hope some kind knowing soul will help us out. "E come il vento odo stormir fra queste piante, io quello infinito silenzio queste voce.....". This is a line in a poem we amateurs are trying to translate as precisely as we can. The word we are stumbling on is "odo" Does it mean "I hear" or does in refer to "fragrance"? Italian dictionaries are no help.Thanks in advance

Dear Gus Although I am not a fluent Italian speaker (my maternal grandparents came from Etroubles and Aosta), I have read some Italian literature as well as literature in other languages, including poetry. The Italian word for "fragrance/aroma/smell" is "odore", so in the first phrase of the line, "odo" seems to mean "I hear". In the second phrase, "odo" is understood by the word "io" ("I"). A fairly literal translation of the whole line would be: "And as I hear the wind rustling among these plants, I [hear] that endless silence, these voices..." However, I bow metaphorically to the superior knowledge of native Italians and bilinguists. It sounds a lovely poem! With best wishes Sylvia J. Hunt Scotland

This lonely hill was always dear to me, And this hedgerow, that hides so large a part Of the far sky-line from my view. Sitting and gazing I fashion in my mind what lie beyond... Unearthly silences, and endless space, And very deepest quiet; until almost My heart becomes afraid. And when I hear The wind come blustering among these trees I set this voice against that infinite silence: And then I call to mind Eternity, The ages that are dead, and the living present And all the noise of it. And thus it is In this immensity my thought is drowned: And sweet to me the foundering in this sea. Giacomo Leopardi, The Infinite (translation by John Heath-Stubbs, modified by Gualtiero) "Gus" <Anon@Shanngrala.Com> ha scritto nel messaggio news:124vsvn4n0dg139@corp.supernews.com... > This is off topic but we hope some kind knowing soul will help us out. "E > come il vento odo stormir fra queste piante, io quello infinito silenzio > queste voce.....". This is a line in a poem we amateurs are trying to > translate as precisely as we can. The word we are stumbling on is "odo" > Does > it mean "I hear" or does in refer to "fragrance"? Italian dictionaries are > no help.Thanks in advance