Κεραμεύειν
to potter
Translated by Nick Nicholas4 Nov 2008Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
In a general sense meaning to work on. For Kephalos was also the father of a potter.1 They would also say "pottering" for dealing badly with public affairs.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Κεραμεύειν· κοινῶς ἀντὶ τοῦ κατεργάζεσθαι. ἦν δὲ καὶ κεραμέως πατὴρ ὁ Κέφαλος. ἔλεγον δὲ κεραμεύειν καὶ τὸ κακῶς ποιεῖν τὰ κοινά.
Betacode
*kerameu/ein: koinw=s a)nti\ tou= katerga/zesqai. h)=n de\ kai\ kerame/ws path\r o( *ke/falos. e)/legon de\ kerameu/ein kai\ to\ kakw=s poiei=n ta\ koina/.
Notes (1)
- Taken in its entirety from the scholia to Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae 253, about Kephalos: "he potters with bowls badly -- though with the city well and nicely" (or more idiomatically, "That he, as excellent a statesman as he is, is a clumsy potter"). LSJ s.v. glosses this instance as "tinkers".
- 1On the politician and orator Kephalos of Kollytos, see generally kappa 1452. (Some modern commentators, e.g. R.G. Ussher on this Aristophanes passage, assert that his father was a potter, as if this is what the scholiast and the Suda say. What they actually say is what is translated here. Whether they meant to say it, and whether we should believe it, are other matters.) ↩
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Revision history4 revisions · last 18 Feb 2013
- Revised — David Whitehead
- augmented n.1 — David Whitehead
- tweaked translation and note — Catharine Roth
- more keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Nick Nicholas