What is the first word of Dante's inferno?

"Nel" is the first Word!

Depending on who's translation you get, Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics) by Authors: Dante, Robin Kirkpatrick start this way:

http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?name=Amazilla&asin=0140448950

"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie Words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno.

ANSWER

You left it incomplete.

"Midway Life's journey I was made aware

That I had strayed into a dark forest,

And the right path appeared not anywhere".