Ἀκέφαλος

headless

Translated by Robert Dyer5 Mar 2000Vetting: high6 revisions

2 notes · 23 words

[Meaning] one who is rightless.¹
And [there is] a proverb: Headless story. The proverb is spoken in reference to those speaking unfinished things.²

Greek original · Adler’s text

Ἀκέφαλος· ὁ ἄτιμος. καὶ παροιμία· Ἀκέφαλος μῦθος. ἐπὶ τῶν ἀτελῆ λεγόντων εἴρηται ἡ παροιμία.

Betacode

*)ake/falos: o( a)/timos. kai\ paroimi/a: *)ake/falos mu=qos. e)pi\ tw=n a)telh= lego/ntwn ei)/rhtai h( paroimi/a.

1That is, deprived of civic rights. The Latin phrase capite diminutum (deprived of civic rights) is clearly a translation of this word. For the gloss cf. Artemidorus 1.35. (The headword is illustrated in a quite different content by alpha 852.) ↩
2Macarius 1.70 and other paroemiographers; Tosi (cited under alpha 378) no.2127, with Latin and later parallels. As a phrase of unfinished dialog (commonly so in Plato) or story (myth), it uses the word for head in its sense of summation, conclusion, even moral (of a fable), whether this is given as a summary at the beginning (cf. heading) or as bringing a story, speech or the day's discussion to an end. ↩

Revision history6 revisions · last 11 May 2015