πτώση από το ύψος του

Rachel Fell Mar 20, 2014:

@Kyriacos: not to any particular verb ;-)

Kyriacos Georghiou Mar 19, 2014:

Any relation Ms Fell?

Rachel Fell Mar 19, 2014:

Sounds as though he fell full length.

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 19, 2014:

Thank you, everyone. Your comments have been helpful. I pointed out the ambiguity to the client, and added a footnote.

D. Harvatis Mar 18, 2014:

Wouldn't it be safer to simply say "fall"? The two possible meanings here are (a) fall from a standing position, and (b) fall from a height of 160-180 cm. I think that "fall from a height" will be taken to mean "fall from a great height", which matches neither.

Nick Lingris Mar 18, 2014:

It's bad and probably old-fashioned Greek. My suggestion for a translation: "he fell from a height".

Kyriacos Georghiou Mar 17, 2014:

Before I saw the details of this question, I thought the answer to "πτώση από το ύψος του" would be: falling from grace. Perhaps he DID fall from Grace :)

Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm Mar 17, 2014:

At the moment, I feel 40 is *too* old... So I am always very careful, να στέκομαι στο ύψος μου!
:)

Philip Lees Mar 17, 2014:

60 is not old I can state that with authority, as I turned 60 myself last year. Amazingly enough, I am not yet totally decrepit. In fact, the last time I tripped over while playing tennis I didn't break anything at all. Hardly a bruise, in fact.

Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm Mar 17, 2014:

I also have more doubts now...
Maybe it was an old man. Old people can be so fragile that such injuries might be possible. (My uncle fell from a standing position and the result was 17 fractures! And he was not even THAT old! (~60 y.o.))

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 17, 2014:

It doesn't run off the edge of the page. The handwriting (to the end of the line) reads "Αναφερόμενη πτώση από το ύψος του, κάκωση κεφαλής,".

D. Harvatis Mar 17, 2014:

Is it possible that there's some handwriting missing, e.g. "από το ύψος του 1ου ορόφου" or some such?
Injuries to the knee and ankle would expected if one twisted their ankle and fell on their knee, and it's conceivable that they could fall on an object that caused the head and chest injuries. Perhaps we could determine the height of the fall by the severity of the injuries?

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 17, 2014:

- and not only head and chest, but knee and ankle too. In the light of all the comments so far, it's probably safest to say "fell from a height".

Whoever wrote the report, wrote "από ύψος" first, but then inserted the extra words in smaller letters - perhaps in an attempt to clarify, but in fact doing the opposite!

Philip Lees Mar 17, 2014:

I agree this is ambiguous, but doesn't the fact that he injured both his head and chest suggest that he didn't simply fall over.

Peter Close Mar 17, 2014:

I must admit that D. Harvatis's opinion in this case does make a lot of sense, and so I must revise my view to say that I am as confused as you are as to what the translation should be.

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 17, 2014:

Unfortunately there is no further context to indicate what he could have fallen from.
Kyriacos' idea, as I understand it, is that he fell from wherever he was. The person was a hotel guest, and could therefore (this is guesswork) have fallen from the floor where he was staying (assuming that it was above ground level).

But now D. Harvatis has brought me back to my suspicion about this use of "το ύψος του".

D. Harvatis Mar 17, 2014:

I'm not disagreeing with the consensus, but I have the same suspicion as Dylan: that the phrase means "fell down from a standing position". Unfortunately I can't confirm it.

Peter Close Mar 17, 2014:

Kyriacos' comment is the same as Anna's, but in other words, so we all three appear to agree with each other.

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 17, 2014:

I've noted Kyriacos' comment too.

Dylan Edwards (asker) Mar 17, 2014:

Thank you.

I'm asking this question because I think I've seen this "από το ύψος του" before and found it rather ambiguous, because it was in a context where one might expect "fell over", "fell flat (on the ground)", i.e. fell from a standing position - but if there's a consensus that it means "fell from a height equal to his own", that's fine.

Kyriacos Georghiou Mar 17, 2014:

I think that he fell from the height that he was, i.e. he fell from a height

Peter Close Mar 17, 2014:

I agree with Anna, here.

Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm Mar 17, 2014:

Νομίζω ότι εννοεί, ότι έπεσε από ύψος ίσο με το δικό του περίπου. Τώρα πώς έπαθε τέτοια ζημιά...