EPOPS: Come let me see, what shall the name be for our city? […]
EUELPIDES: Hence, from the clouds, and these meteoric regions, some all-swelling name.
PISTHETAERUS: Would you “Cloud-cuckoo-land?”Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 388 BC) Athenian comedic playwright
The Birds, ll. 812, 817-819 (414 BC) [tr. Warter (1830)]
(Source)
Alt. trans. [Hickie (1853)]
EPOPS: Come, let me see, what shall the name of our city be? [...]
EUEL.: Something very grand, from hence, from the clouds and elevated regions.
PISTH.: Would you "Cloud-cuckoo-town?"
Alt. trans. [Rogers (1906)]
CH.: Then let's consider what the name shall be.
CH.: Invent some fine
Magniloquent name, drawn from these upper spaces
And clouds.
PEI.: What think you of Cloudcuckoobury?
Alt. trans. [O'Neill (1938)]
LEADER OF THE CHORUS: Let's see. What shall our city be called? [...]
EUELPIDES: Some name borrowed from the clouds, from these lofty regions in which we dwell -- in short, some well-known name.
PISTHETAERUS: Do you like Nephelococcygia?