Αύγουστος ήταν. Από τη Θεσσαλονίκη που κατέβηκε

[Theseus]

This book I am working through is becoming very difficult. Here is part of the first paragraph with my difficulties highlighted:

Αύγουστος ήταν. Από τη Θεσσαλονίκη που κατέβηκε με το τρένο—τίποτα δεν στάθηκε να δει—γραμμή λεωφορείο (a bus service/route?) και στην Κοζάνη, γραμμή κι από κει για την Κόνιτσα (why the και & κι'?). Εκεί το νοίκιασε το μικρό ημιφορτηγό για τις έξι βαλίτσες του, κάτι δέματα, κάτι πακέτα, όλα μικρότερα (rather small?), τα κέρδη του από τη Γερμανία. Σε τρεις τέσσερις ώρες σταματήσανε στο μικρό μπακάλικο ήταν από τότε πριν φύγει. Τώρα με το δρόμο που φτιάξανε, το μεγαλώσανε και σταματούν εκεί τα λεωφορεία (Now by the road which had been built, it had been widened & buses stop there??).

I am completely puzzled by this passage. This is a sample. I have got some sense out of subsequent sentences!

 

[daeman]

...
From Thessaloniki where he arrived by train, he didn't stop to see anything; he went straight for the bus to Kozani and from there straight to Konitsa. [...] After three or four hours, they stopped at the small grocery store that was there since before he had left. Now that the road had been built, that store had been expanded and buses make a stop there.


κατεβαίνω: [...] 2. κινούμαι: α. από τα βόρεια προς τα νότια: Aπό τη Ρωσία κατέβηκε στην Ελλάδα. Κατεβαίνει συχνά από τη Θεσσαλονίκη στην Aθήνα.

Supposing he came from the north, from Germany.

γραμμή: [...] 8. (ως επίρρ.) α. κατευθείαν: Πήγε γραμμή στην ταβέρνα. Tράβηξε γραμμή για τον Πειραιά / για το σπίτι.

"και στην Κοζάνη" because και is never abbreviated to κι before consonants (no native speaker would say "κι στην Κοζάνη") and "κι από κει" to avoid the double hiatus of "και από εκεί" (εα - οε). We'd probably pronounce it as a single word: "κιαποκεί."

There's a που missing from that sentence: Σε τρεις τέσσερις ώρες σταματήσανε στο μικρό μπακάλικο που ήταν από τότε πριν φύγει —or an appropriate punctuation mark; a dash or semicolon to indicate a break in the flow.

Can't figure out the actual purpose of that "όλα μικρότερα" in that sentence. I'm reading that the bundles and packs were all smaller than his six suitcases (or the packs were smaller than the bundles?) but still the reason it was included baffles me. I take it as either an obscure reference to something previously mentioned or a hint casually dropped here which will have some significance later on (although I wouldn't do that out of the blue, since it's obviously puzzling), or a redundant detail.

 

[Lefki]

An English idiom that corresponds to the adverbial use of γραμμή meaning "straightaway" is to make a beeline for.

 

[dharvatis]

όλα μικρότερα: it's puzzling; as daeman says, it might be a comparison with other sizes mentioned earlier (maybe the size of his luggage when he left for Germany, although that doesn't seem likely), it could be included just to give us a visual image (six large suitcases and several smaller packs), or perhaps it's meant to show that his packs were smaller than he'd hoped they'd be (i.e. he hadn't earned as much as he'd hoped).

 

[Theseus]

Thank you so much, all of you. No wonder I found it difficult: there was no vocabulary help at all. I knew κατεβαίνω in the sense of 'to get off a train', hence the με puzzled me. I should have made myself clearer on the subject of και. Does the first one mean 'also'? After he got off the train, he went straight 'ALSO' for the bus to Konitsa. Or is the και..κι both..and?
Why I suggested that perhaps μικρότερα meant 'rather small' is by analogy with Latin where the comparative is often used to mean 'rather/quite/too' (small &), i.e. 'smaller than he expected'. But it was just a guess. Yet another omission in this textbook! Στο μικρό μπακάλικο που ήταν από τότε πριν φύγει.

 

[SBE]

I would punctuate this like that:
Σε τρεις-τέσσερις ώρες σταματήσανε στο μικρό μπακάλικο. Ήταν (εκεί) από τότε, πριν φύγει.

 

[Theseus]

Thanks, SBE. You have observed before the poor punctuation in this textbook. As a non-Greek, I haven't got the confidence yet to edit or emend texts, however short.

 

[SBE]

Perhaps this is clearer:
Αύγουστος ήταν. Στη Θεσσαλονίκη κατέβηκε με το τρένο. Τίποτα δεν στάθηκε να δει. Απο εκεί (meaning Thessaloniki) γραμμή στο λεωφορείο και στην Κοζάνη. Γραμμή κι από κει για την Κόνιτσα. Εκεί νοίκιασε το μικρό ημιφορτηγό για τις έξι βαλίτσες του, κάτι δέματα, κάτι πακέτα, όλα μικρότερα. Τα κέρδη του από τη Γερμανία. Σε τρεις-τέσσερις ώρες σταματήσανε στο μικρό μπακάλικο. Ήταν από τότε, πριν φύγει, εκεί. Τώρα που φτιάξανε το δρόμο, το μεγαλώσανε και σταματούν εκεί τα λεωφορεία.

The idioms are:
Από A γραμμή για B: From place A straight to place B, he made a beeline to B etc. For example: Γραμμή κι από κει για την Κόνιτσα = straight from there, too, to Konitsa
Here's one most people in Greece face on a daily basis:
Χτες πήγα στην τράπεζα να πληρώσω και μετά γραμμή στην εφορία για τη βεβαίωση = Yesterday I went to the bank to pay and then [i.e. as soon as I got the receipt], I went straight to the tax office for the certificate.

Τώρα με το δρόμο που φτιάξανε = Tώρα που φτιάξανε δρόμο
Τώρα που φτιάξανε το δρόμο would imply that the road was there and it was renovated, whereas Τώρα που φτιάξανε δρόμο means that the road was built from scratch

 

[SBE]

Apart from the one above, I don’t think it’s poor punctuation, just the author’s voice. But it may not be too clear to some, hence the rewrite.

 

[Theseus]

A very helpful rewrite all the same. Thanks, SBE, for all the explanations as well.:)

 

[daeman]

... I should have made myself clearer on the subject of και. Does the first one mean 'also'? After he got off the train, he went straight 'ALSO' for the bus to Konitsa. Or is the και..κι both..and?
...

They're both "and", Theseus. I think this will explain it:
γραμμή λεωφορείο και στην Κοζάνη, γραμμή κι από κει για την Κόνιτσα >
straight for the bus and off to Kozani, and from there straight to Konitsa.

 

[Theseus]

Thanks, Daeman.