Background:

Heidegger translates Anaximander’s “dike” as jointure and “adikia” as out of joint. Something is wrong with beings, they are either subtly or conspicuously out of joint. But then, something splendid happens like falling in love or landing that dream job, and temporarily there is jointure, everything falls into place. In the language of Robet Browning or Lucy Maude Montgomery, for a little while it’s like God is once again in His heaven and all’s right with the world.

In his 1946 essay “The Saying of Anaximander” (published in Holzwege), Martin Heidegger translates what he considers to be the short, authentic core of the fragment. Because he isolates this specific section from the later commentary of Simplicius, his rendering strips away traditional moral and judicial language:

“…κατὰ τὸ χρεών· διδόναι γὰρ αὐτὰ δίκην καὶ τίσιν ἀλλήλοις τῆς ἀδικίας”

Heidegger’s Word-for-Word Translation Strategy

Original Greek Term	Traditional Philological Translation	Heidegger’s Philosophical Translation	Meaning in Heidegger’s Framework
κατὰ τὸ χρεών (kata to chreon)	“According to necessity”	“…entlang dem Brauch”	“Along the lines of usage.” Brauch (use) is interpreted not as utilization, but as handing over to presence and letting something belong to its essence.
διδόναι γὰρ αὐτὰ (didonai gar auta)	“For they pay/give…”	“…sie lassen nämlich…”	“For they let…”
δίκην (diken)	“…penalty / justice”	“…Fug”	“…order / jointure / accord.” Fug implies a fitting structural arrangement where things fall into place, rather than legal justice.
καὶ τίσιν (kai tisin)	“…and recompense”	“…und damit auch Ruch”	“…and thereby also reck / care.” Ruch (related to geruhen or “reckless”) refers to mutual consideration or respect between presencing things.
ἀλλήλοις (allelois)	“…to one another”	“…gehören”	“…belong to one another”
(ἐν τῷ ὑπερχειν) (added gloss)	Implicit in the syntax	“…(im Verwinden)…”	“…(in the surmounting)…”
τῆς ἀδικίας (tes adikias)	“…for their injustice”	“…des Un-fugs”	“…of disorder / incompliance.” Un-fug means being “out of joint”

When these terms are assembled, Heidegger’s German translation (as rendered into standard English philosophical editions like Early Greek Thinking) reads:

“…along the lines of usage; for they let order and thereby also reck belong to one another (in the surmounting) of disorder.”

Instead of describing a cosmic courtroom where physical objects punish one another for existing, Heidegger’s translation portrays the event of Being itself. Present entities step forward out of concealment (unconcealment), and linger together briefly in a state of reciprocal respect (reck).

PS

*** The School and Purpose: The Thinkery is portrayed by Aristophanes as a bizarre academy where students pay Socrates to learn slick rhetorical tricks, atheistic science, and how to make a weak argument defeat a strong one.