Λοφεῖον
crest-case
Translated by Oliver Phillips ✝15 Jul 2009Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] the box of [= for] a mirror, or the box of [= for] the crest of a helmet. It [is] rounded. Aristophanes in Clouds [writes]: "I would take down the moon at night; then I would shut it up in a round case."1 If it is the diminutive form, it indicates the smaller of the three crests,2 but if the ei is a diphthong, it receives a properispomenon accent3 and indicates a box for the crest.4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Λοφεῖον· ἡ τοῦ κατόπτρου θήκη, ἢ ἡ θήκη τοῦ λόφου τῆς περικεφαλαίας. περιφερὴς δὲ αὕτη. Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις· καθέλοιμι νύκτωρ τὴν σελήνην· εἶτα δὴ αὐτὴν καθείρξαιμ' εἰς λοφεῖον στρογγύλον. ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ ὑποκοριστικόν, δηλοῖ τὸν ἐλάττονα τῶν τριῶν λόφων, ἐὰν δὲ διὰ τῆς ει διφθόγγου, προπερισπᾶται καὶ δηλοῖ τὴν θήκην τοῦ λόφου.
Betacode
*lofei=on: h( tou= kato/ptrou qh/kh, h)\ h( qh/kh tou= lo/fou th=s perikefalai/as. periferh\s de\ au(/th. *)aristofa/nhs *nefe/lais: kaqe/loimi nu/ktwr th\n selh/nhn: ei)=ta dh\ au)th\n kaqei/rcaim' ei)s lofei=on stroggu/lon. e)a\n me\n h)=| u(pokoristiko/n, dhloi= to\n e)la/ttona tw=n triw=n lo/fwn, e)a\n de\ dia\ th=s ei difqo/ggou, properispa=tai kai\ dhloi= th\n qh/khn tou= lo/fou.
Notes (4)
- 1Aristophanes, Clouds 750-1, with scholion. Strepsiades is trying to explain to Socrates that he could get out of debt by locking the full moon in a round carrying-case for a hoplite's crest; thus there would never be a new moon, on which date in the Athenian lunar calendar debts fell due. See text at web address 1, Athenian calendar at web address 2. ↩
- 2The diminutive is spelled
lo/fion (cf. lambda 698). The lexicographer perhaps has in mind a helmet with three ridges, each of which could hold a crest (Homer, Iliad 11.41-43), though there is no sign that he knew the epic directly. ↩ - 3A properispomenon word has a circumflex accent over the penult, the next-to-last syllable. ↩
- 4From the scholia to Aristophanes, Acharnians 1109, where the phrase
to\ lofei=on e)ce/negke tw=n triw=n lo/fwn occurs. ↩
References
Oliver Phillips, "The Witches’ Thessaly", in Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, edited by Paul Allan Mirecki, Marvin Meyer, Leiden 2002, 378-386
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 ancient.eu
Linked from1 entry
Neighbouring entries
Revision history4 revisions · last 15 Jun 2020
- modified link — Catharine Roth
- cosmetics — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- added links and keywords, set status — Catharine Roth
- Translated — Oliver Phillips ✝