Χαίρειν
cheers, hail, take joy
Translated by Jennifer Benedict18 Mar 2008Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
This is a greeting of those who are leaving or even arriving; it is placed at the beginning of letters.1
"Cheers", a salutation. Some consider it to be placed late in letters; in this way simply to correspond with each other as Amasis said these things to Polycrates.2 Eubulus the comic [playwright] said that Kleon was the first to write a letter this way to the Athenians [sc. who had returned safely] from Sphakteria,3 at which he was also quite pleased, [Eubulus] not knowing that the ancients had used [this word] and had thus greeted one another, not only when first they met (as we do) but also on taking leave from one another, instead of "good health"4 and "be well" they bade one another to "take joy".
"Cheers", a salutation. Some consider it to be placed late in letters; in this way simply to correspond with each other as Amasis said these things to Polycrates.2 Eubulus the comic [playwright] said that Kleon was the first to write a letter this way to the Athenians [sc. who had returned safely] from Sphakteria,3 at which he was also quite pleased, [Eubulus] not knowing that the ancients had used [this word] and had thus greeted one another, not only when first they met (as we do) but also on taking leave from one another, instead of "good health"4 and "be well" they bade one another to "take joy".
Greek original · Adler’s text
Χαίρειν· τοῦτο ἐστὶ προσαγόρευσις ἀπαλλασσομένων ἢ καὶ προσερχομένων· ἐτίθετο δὲ κατ' ἀρχὰς τῶν ἐπιστολῶν. Χαίρειν, πρόσρημα. ὀψὲ ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς προστεθῆναί τινες νομίζουσιν· ἁπλῶς δ' οὕτως ἀλλήλοις ἐπιστέλλειν, οἷον Ἄμασις Πολυκράτει τάδε λέγει. πρῶτον δὲ Κλέωνα φησὶν Εὔβουλος ὁ κωμικὸς οὕτως ἐπιστεῖλαι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἀπὸ Σφακτηρίας, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ὑπερησθῆναι· ἀγνοῶν, ὅτι καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ ἐχρῶντο καὶ προσηγόρευον οὕτως ἀλλήλους, οὐ μόνον τὸ πρῶτον ἐντυγχάνοντες, ὡς ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαλυόμενοι ἀπ' ἀλλήλων, ἀντὶ τοῦ ὑγιαίνειν καὶ ἐρρῶσθαι, χαίρειν διεκελεύοντο ἀλλήλοις.
Betacode
*xai/rein: tou=to e)sti\ prosago/reusis a)pallassome/nwn h)\ kai\ proserxome/nwn: e)ti/qeto de\ kat' a)rxa\s tw=n e)pistolw=n. *xai/rein, pro/srhma. o)ye\ tai=s e)pistolai=s prosteqh=nai/ tines nomi/zousin: a(plw=s d' ou(/tws a)llh/lois e)piste/llein, oi(=on *)/amasis *polukra/tei ta/de le/gei. prw=ton de\ *kle/wna fhsi\n *eu)/boulos o( kwmiko\s ou(/tws e)pistei=lai toi=s *)aqhnai/ois a)po\ *sfakthri/as, e)f' w(=| kai\ u(perhsqh=nai: a)gnow=n, o(/ti kai\ oi( palaioi\ e)xrw=nto kai\ proshgo/reuon ou(/tws a)llh/lous, ou) mo/non to\ prw=ton e)ntugxa/nontes, w(s h(mei=s, a)lla\ kai\ dialuo/menoi a)p' a)llh/lwn, a)nti\ tou= u(giai/nein kai\ e)rrw=sqai, xai/rein diekeleu/onto a)llh/lois.
Notes (4)
- The headword is the present active infinitive of↩
xai/rw , a form probably quoted from contexts of indirect discourse in Aristophanes (see n. 3 below). The usual usage as described in this entry was in the imperative:xai/re in the singular andxai/rete in the plural. See also chi 164, chi 165.- 1cf. Appendix Proverbiorum 5.20. ↩
- 2cf. generally Herodotus 3.40. ↩
- 3cf. Moeris 213.31, Thomas Magister 398.6, the scholia to Aristophanes, Clouds 609 (web address 1 below) and Wealth [Plutus] 322 (web address 2 below). For Kleon (and Sphakteria, 424 BCE) see generally kappa 1731. ↩
- 4Compare the Modern Greek greeting
u)gi/a sou /sas , a shortened form ofsth\n u)gi/a sou /sas .
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from5 entries
- ε3073Ἐρρῶσθαι φράσαςhaving told [someone] farewell[Meaning he] having told [someone] to go hang, having condemned [someone].
- χ163Χαίρεινto say 'hello'Just like birds, [which] learn these things from men. Birds exclaim "hello!" and "good luck!" and "[May] Zeus [be] sweet!" and these sorts of things, neither knowing what they are saying nor being well-disposed towards…
- χ164ΧαίρεινgreetingsTo add 'greetings' to letters [was] the ancient way. Some say that Kleon was the first to do this, but they are wrong.
- χ166ΧαίρεινgreetingsKleon headed [his letters] thus, but Plato [preferred] 'do/fare well', and Epicurus 'live well'.
- χ167Χαίρειν εἰπώνsaying 'farewell'Meaning [one who is] leaving behind. "But he came along another road, saying 'farewell' to Missianê."
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 22 Apr 2023
- tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
- coding — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaked tr; expanded n.3 — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Jennifer Benedict