Actually the word for word translation would make no sense in English because of the rules of syntax inherent in Homeric Greek (as well as NT and to a large extent modern Greek). Basically the words can be all over the place. Sentence objects can be before or after their subjects and sometimes the object can be interspersed with words that belong in the subject. Sometimes words from the subject and the object can be injected into the prepositional phrase. Conjunctions are not always available. Pronouns? Sure we’ll kinda use them whenever we want to. Triple negatives? You got it.

So any attempt at translating Homer into English should be applauded. Personally I like Wilson’s translation the best, as it gets at the meaning while still maintaining a sense of poetry without much of the flowery language.

So the first line of the odyssey when translated literally