Ἀβέλτερος

thoughtless

Translated by Anne Mahoney25 Aug 1998Vetting: high13 revisions

5 notes · 136 words

[Meaning] mindless, stupid. For the intelligent man [is] be/lteros ["thoughtful, superior"].¹
"No, by Zeus, not the greedy and thoughtless fellow, but the mindless and conceitedly slow-witted."²
Menander in Perinthia [writes]: "any servant who takes an idle and easy master and deceives him does not know what a great accomplishment it is to make a greater fool of one who is already thoughtless".³
They also call a)belthri/a ["thoughtlessness"] an a)belth/rion ["thoughtless thing"]. Anaxandrides in Helen⁴ [writes]: "[A:] an anchor, a little boat, - call it what vessel you want. [B:] O Heracles of the sacred precinct of thoughtlessness. [A:] But one could not estimate its size."
Also [sc. attested is] a)belthri/a, [meaning] stupidity. Or mindlessness. Menander [writes]: "their mind drove them to such thoughtlessness that they prayed for victory over each other rather than over the enemy."⁵

Greek original · Adler’s text

Ἀβέλτερος· ἀνόητος, ἀσύνετος. βέλτερος γὰρ ὁ φρόνιμος. οὐ μὰ Δί' οὐχ ὁ πλεονέκτης καὶ ἀγνώμων, ἀλλ' ὁ ἀνόητος καὶ εὐήθης μετὰ χαυνότητος. Μένανδρος Περινθίᾳ· ὅστις παραλαβὼν δεσπότην ἀπράγμονα καὶ κοῦφον ἐξαπατᾷ θεράπων, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι οὗτος μεγαλεῖόν ἐστι διαπεπραγμένος, ἐπαβελτερώσας τόν ποτε ἀβέλτερον. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ ἀβελτήριον τὴν ἀβελτηρίαν. Ἀλεξανδρίδης Ἑλένῃ· ἄγκυρα, λέμβος, σκεῦος ὅ τι βούλει λέγε. ὦ Ἡράκλεις ἀβελτηρίου τεμενικοῦ. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν εἰπεῖν τὸ μέγεθος δύναιτό τις. καὶ Ἀβελτηρία, ἡ ἀφροσύνη. ἢ ἀνοησία. Μένανδρος· εἰς τοῦτο δὲ ἀβελτηρίας ἤλασεν αὐτοῖς ὁ νοῦς, ὥστε θάτερον μέρος τὴν κατὰ θατέρου μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων εὔχεσθαι νίκην.

Betacode

*)abe/lteros: a)no/htos, a)su/netos. be/lteros ga\r o( fro/nimos. ou) ma\ *di/' ou)x o( pleone/kths kai\ a)gnw/mwn, a)ll' o( a)no/htos kai\ eu)h/qhs meta\ xauno/thtos. *me/nandros *perinqi/a|: o(/stis paralabw\n despo/thn a)pra/gmona kai\ kou=fon e)capata=| qera/pwn, ou)k oi)=d' o(/ ti ou(=tos megalei=o/n e)sti diapepragme/nos, e)pabelterw/sas to/n pote a)be/lteron. le/gousi de\ kai\ a)belth/rion th\n a)belthri/an. *)alecandri/dhs *(ele/nh|: a)/gkura, le/mbos, skeu=os o(/ ti bou/lei le/ge. w)= *(hra/kleis a)belthri/ou temenikou=.  a)ll' ou)d' a)\n ei)pei=n to\ me/geqos du/naito/ tis. kai\ *)abelthri/a, h( a)frosu/nh. h)\ a)nohsi/a. *me/nandros: ei)s tou=to de\ a)belthri/as h)/lasen au)toi=s o( nou=s, w(/ste qa/teron me/ros th\n kata\ qate/rou ma=llon h)\ th\n kata\ tw=n polemi/wn eu)/xesqai ni/khn.

Notes (5)

On this headword, a comic formation literally meaning non-superior, see generally LSJ s.v. (web address 1 below); and cf. alpha 31, alpha 33.
1These glosses are paralleled in a variety of other lexica (and in the scholia to Aristophanes, Clouds 1201 and Ecclesiazusae 768). ↩
2Quotation (an illustration of the first of the glossing words, not the headword) unidentifiable; also in Photius and Aelius Dionysius. ↩
3Menander fr. 393 Kock. ↩
4Anaxandrides [see generally alpha 1982] fr. 12 Kock (and K.-A.). But note that Adler prints the manuscript reading "Alexandrides", on the strength of the (apparent) mention of such a playwright in alpha 3824. On the emendation to Anaxandrides, see Toup vol. 1 p. 9; Adler attributes the emendation to 'Iunius' (probably Adriaan de Jonghe, 1511-1575, author of a Greek/Latin Lexicon). ↩
5Not M. the comic poet, quoted above, but the C6 CE historian Menander Protector [mu 591]: his fr. 28 Blockley (242-243). There is no context to the unplaced fragment that would allow the identification of the individuals or their enemy.

↩

References

Toup, Jonathan, and Richard Porson. Emendationes in Suidam Et Hesychium, Et Alios Lexicographos Graecos. Oxford 1790
R.C. Blockley, ed. and trans., The History of Menander the Guardsman, (Cambridge 1985)

External resources

Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu

Linked from4 entries

Neighbouring entries

α30ἌβελAbel α31Ἀβελτεροκόκκυξsilly cuckoo α32Ἀβέλτεροςthoughtless α33Ἀβελτερώτατοιmost thoughtless, very thoughtless α34Ἀβέρβηλοςunsteady

Revision history13 revisions · last 20 Jul 2024

20 Jul 2024augmented n.5, added bibliography — Ronald Allen
10 Mar 2024modified paragraph division — Catharine Roth
2 Apr 2015tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
22 Dec 2014updated a ref — David Whitehead
3 Jan 2012updated a reference; cosmetics — David Whitehead
16 Dec 2011tweaks — David Whitehead
20 May 2008augmented note — Catharine Roth
16 May 2008typo — David Whitehead
15 May 2008fixed note number, augmented note, added bibliography, tweaked link — Catharine Roth
25 Mar 2008added link — Jennifer Benedict
24 Mar 2008modified headword; augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
23 Mar 2008betacoding — Jennifer Benedict
9 Feb 2001augmented notes; added keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
25 Aug 1998Translated — Anne Mahoney

Greek original · Adler’s text

Betacode

*)abe/lteros: a)no/htos, a)su/netos. be/lteros ga\r o( fro/nimos. ou) ma\ *di/' ou)x o( pleone/kths kai\ a)gnw/mwn, a)ll' o( a)no/htos kai\ eu)h/qhs meta\ xauno/thtos. *me/nandros *perinqi/a|: o(/stis paralabw\n despo/thn a)pra/gmona kai\ kou=fon e)capata=| qera/pwn, ou)k oi)=d' o(/ ti ou(=tos megalei=o/n e)sti diapepragme/nos, e)pabelterw/sas to/n pote a)be/lteron. le/gousi de\ kai\ a)belth/rion th\n a)belthri/an. *)alecandri/dhs *(ele/nh|: a)/gkura, le/mbos, skeu=os o(/ ti bou/lei le/ge. w)= *(hra/kleis a)belthri/ou temenikou=.  a)ll' ou)d' a)\n ei)pei=n to\ me/geqos du/naito/ tis. kai\ *)abelthri/a, h( a)frosu/nh. h)\ a)nohsi/a. *me/nandros: ei)s tou=to de\ a)belthri/as h)/lasen au)toi=s o( nou=s, w(/ste qa/teron me/ros th\n kata\ qate/rou ma=llon h)\ th\n kata\ tw=n polemi/wn eu)/xesqai ni/khn.

Notes (5)

On this headword, a comic formation literally meaning non-superior, see generally LSJ s.v. (web address 1 below); and cf. alpha 31, alpha 33.

1These glosses are paralleled in a variety of other lexica (and in the scholia to Aristophanes, Clouds 1201 and Ecclesiazusae 768). ↩

2Quotation (an illustration of the first of the glossing words, not the headword) unidentifiable; also in Photius and Aelius Dionysius. ↩

3Menander fr. 393 Kock. ↩

4Anaxandrides [see generally alpha 1982] fr. 12 Kock (and K.-A.). But note that Adler prints the manuscript reading "Alexandrides", on the strength of the (apparent) mention of such a playwright in alpha 3824. On the emendation to Anaxandrides, see Toup vol. 1 p. 9; Adler attributes the emendation to 'Iunius' (probably Adriaan de Jonghe, 1511-1575, author of a Greek/Latin Lexicon). ↩

5Not M. the comic poet, quoted above, but the C6 CE historian Menander Protector [mu 591]: his fr. 28 Blockley (242-243). There is no context to the unplaced fragment that would allow the identification of the individuals or their enemy.

Translation

Greek original · Adler’s text

Notes (5)

References

External resources

Linked from4 entries

Neighbouring entries

Translation

Greek original · Adler’s text

Notes (5)

References

External resources

Linked from4 entries

Neighbouring entries