Αὐτότατος
his very self
Translated by Jennifer Benedict8 Aug 2001Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
Aristophanes in Wealth [writes]: "that man himself? His very self."1 A pronoun, but played upon comically; for indefinites do not permit superlatives. If then the pronoun is used for "the self", then in accordance with this it does not permit a comparison, as do the other parts [of speech].2
Greek original · Adler’s text
Αὐτότατος· Ἀριστοφάνης Πλούτῳ· ἐκεῖνος αὐτός; αὐτότατος. ἀντωνυμία, πέπαικται δὲ κωμικῶς· τὰ γὰρ ἀόριστα τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνεπίτατα. εἰ οὖν ἡ ἀντωνυμία ἐπὶ οὐσίας παραλαμβάνεται, κατὰ τοῦτο ἐπίτασιν οὐ δέχεται, ὡς τὰ ἄλλα μέρη.