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Ἀκερδὴς χάρις · unprofitable reward (α 832) · Suda

Letters

Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

Near α832

α828akeanos
α829Akelimas, Akepsemas, Akepsimas
α830shunning of vain pursuits
α831wordless(ly), in silence, speechless, (?)attentive(ly)
α832unprofitable reward
α833unblemished
α834unblemished consciousness, sound conscience
α835uncorrupted
α836uncorrupted, intact, fresh, unblemished

Suda/Α alpha/α832

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Ἀκερδὴς χάρις

unprofitable reward

Translated by Robert Dyer5 Jun 2000Vetting: high7 revisions

definition
economics
epic
ethics
religion
rhetoric
+1
- tragedy

2 notes · 28 words

Translation

[Meaning] one given not appropriately [i.e. disproportionately].
[One] whose profit [is] evil.¹
"May I not somehow, for seeing a cursed man face to face, meet an unprofitable reward."²

Greek original · Adler’s text

Ἀκερδὴς χάρις· ἡ μὴ δεόντως διδομένη. ἧς φαῦλον τὸ κέρδος. μήδ' ἄλαστον ἀκερδῆ χάριν ἄντ' ἰδὼν μετάσχοιμί πως.

Betacode

*)akerdh\s xa/ris: h( mh\ deo/ntws didome/nh. h(=s fau=lon to\ ke/rdos. mh/d' a)/laston a)kerdh= xa/rin a)/nt' i)dw\n meta/sxoimi/ pws.

Notes (2)

This phrase occurs only at Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1484, here quoted. The two glosses come, respectively, from Photius, Lexicon alpha726 Theodoridis (= Phrynichus, Praeparatio sophistica fr. 144), and from the scholia to the line. In the thunderstorm towards the end of the play, the terrified chorus of old men pray to Zeus as god of thunder and lightning not to punish them for merely seeing a man accursed by giving them an 'unprofitable reward', clearly a litotes for divine punishment.
1The adjective, in classical Greek 'insignificant', is here to be taken in its later ecclesiastical sense. ↩
2The jumbled word order is untranslatable, and I have translated the words in the established order of the Sophocles text, placing the headword phrase after i)dw/n. The interesting reading of a)/nt' 'face to face' for a)/ndr' 'man' is not found in our MSS, but is plausible, for it would echo the formulaic phrase in Homer's Iliad (13.184, 404, etc.) but ignore the digamma that prevents elision there and thus provide a mock heroic touch (cf. a similar usage at Euripides, Alcestis 877).

Neighbouring entries

α830Ἀκενόσπουδονshunning of vain pursuits α831Ἀκέωνwordless(ly), in silence, speechless, (?)attentive(ly)α832Ἀκερδὴς χάριςunprofitable reward α833Ἀκέραιονunblemished α834Ἀκέραιον συνειδόςunblemished consciousness, sound conscience

Revision history7 revisions · last 22 Jan 2015

22 Jan 2015coding — Catharine Roth
19 Aug 2013tweaking — David Whitehead
28 Nov 2005more keywords — David Whitehead
23 Dec 2002added keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
25 Jun 2000 — Anne Mahoney
—
—
5 Jun 2000Translated — Robert Dyer

Cite this entry

Suda On Line, s.v. Ἀκερδὴς χάρις (Adler number alpha 832), trans. Robert Dyer, 5 Jun 2000. https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/alpha/832

Translation by Robert Dyer for Suda On Line, revised by Catharine Roth, David Whitehead, Anne Mahoney, , licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Shown unchanged, under the same licence, non-commercially. Original on SOL ↗