Μοχθηρός
wicked, depraved, nasty, wretched
Translated by Ronald Allen13 Sep 2008Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
Also [sc. attested is] mo/xqhros with proparoxytone accent.1.
[Meaning] painful, or toilsome.2
In the orators a bad [man] is understood [sc. by this word].3
Alsomoxqhri/a ["wickedness"] is applied to badness. Thus Dinarchus [sc. uses it].4 Antiphon, the earliest of the orators,5 used the [term] moxqhro/s not in reference to the man [who is] bad and is being brought into a court of justice in order that he may be prosecuted; instead, he assigned the [term] moxqhro/s to a father who had obtained leave to bring a suit on behalf of his slaughtered son. And thus he declares in Proems and Perorations: "and I the wretched one, who ought to have died, I live as a laughing-stock to my enemies."6
[Meaning] painful, or toilsome.2
In the orators a bad [man] is understood [sc. by this word].3
Also
Greek original · Adler’s text
Μοχθηρός· καὶ μόχθηρος προπαροξυτόνως. ἐπίπονος, ἢ πονηρός. παρὰ ῥήτορσιν ὁ κακὸς ὑπείληπται. καὶ Μοχθηρία ἐπὶ τῆς κακίας τέτακται. οὕτως Δείναρχος. Ἀντιφῶν δὲ ὁ παλαιότατος τῶν ῥητόρων τῷ μὲν μοχθηρῷ ἐχρήσατο οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ κακοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ εἰσαγομένου εἰς δικαστήριον ἵνα κατηγορηθῇ ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πατρὸς δίκην λαχόντος ὑπὲρ ἀπεσφαγμένου παιδὸς τὸν μοχθηρὸν ἔταξε. καὶ φησὶν οὕτως ἐν προοιμίοις καὶ ἐπιλόγοις· κἀγὼ μὲν ὁ μοχθηρός, ὅντινα ἐχρῆν τεθνηκέναι, ζῶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς κατάγελως.
Betacode
*moxqhro/s: kai\ mo/xqhros proparocuto/nws. e)pi/ponos, h)\ ponhro/s. para\ r(h/torsin o( kako\s u(pei/lhptai. kai\ *moxqhri/a e)pi\ th=s kaki/as te/taktai. ou(/tws *dei/narxos. *)antifw=n de\ o( palaio/tatos tw=n r(hto/rwn tw=| me\n moxqhrw=| e)xrh/sato ou)k e)pi\ tou= kakou= a)ndro\s kai\ ei)sagome/nou ei)s dikasth/rion i(/na kathgorhqh=| a)ll' e)pi\ patro\s di/khn laxo/ntos u(pe\r a)pesfagme/nou paido\s to\n moxqhro\n e)/tace. kai\ fhsi\n ou(/tws e)n prooimi/ois kai\ e)pilo/gois: ka)gw\ me\n o( moxqhro/s, o(/ntina e)xrh=n teqnhke/nai, zw= toi=s e)xqroi=s kata/gelws.
Notes (6)
- The headword is the masculine nominative singular of the adjective
moxqhro/s, -a, -on ; cf. LSJ s.v. A cognate substantive appears in the first quotation; cf. mu 1308, mu 1309, and other cognates at mu 1307 and mu 1311. On the variation of accent, see LSJ s.v. and cf. pi 2041. - 1The Suda uses an adverbial form of the adjective
proparocu/tonos, -on , meaning having an acute accent on the antepenultimate syllable (Dickey, p. 255). ↩ - 2cf. Photius' Lexicon (mu562 Theodoridis), Hesychius mu1764, Lexica Segueriana 304.5; Ammonius, De adfinium vocabulorum differentia 326.5; and Etymologicum Magnum 592.9. ↩
- 3Adler notes that in his pioneering study on Suda source texts, Wentzel linked the reference to "rhetoricians" here with the use by the Suda's compilers of an early rhetorical lexicon from which Bekker's Fifth Lexicon, the
*le/ceis r(htorikai/ , was derived (Bekker, pp. 195-318); cf. Adler, p. xvii; and Wentzel, pp. 477-487. The Fifth Lexicon contains the lemma-gloss pairmoxqhro/n, kako/n (Bekker, 281.24); but cf. Photius loc.cit. with the extra glossh)\ kako/s . ↩ - 4Dinarchus fr.26.2 (Conomis). For Dinarchus (c.360-c.290) see delta 333 and OCD(4) s.v. ↩
- 5Antiphon (c.480-411); cf. alpha 2744, alpha 2745, alpha 2746, and see OCD(4) s.v. Antiphon(1). ↩
- 6Antiphon fr.72 Sauppe (70 Thalheim); cf. Photius loc.cit. ↩
References
E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
I. Bekker, ed., Anecdota Graeca, vol. I, Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965
A. Adler, ed., Suidae Lexicon, vol. I, Stuttgart: B.G. Teubner, 1971
G. Wentzel, Beiträge zur Geschichte der griechischen Lexikographen; Sitzungsberichte der königlich preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1895. Reprinted in K. Latte and H. Erbse, eds., Lexica Graeca Minora, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1992, pp. 1-11
I. Bekker, ed., Anecdota Graeca, vol. I, Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965
A. Adler, ed., Suidae Lexicon, vol. I, Stuttgart: B.G. Teubner, 1971
G. Wentzel, Beiträge zur Geschichte der griechischen Lexikographen; Sitzungsberichte der königlich preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1895. Reprinted in K. Latte and H. Erbse, eds., Lexica Graeca Minora, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1992, pp. 1-11
Linked from4 entries
- μ1307Μοχθεῖis weary[Meaning he/she/it] is in distress. "The Celts, 'having been much wearied' by the route through the difficult terrain, [...]." And [sc. the form] moxqi/zw is also said.
- μ1308Μοχθηρίαdepravity, nastiness, wickedness[Meaning] the desire of [= for] silver/money; or the demand of [= for] silver/money. Aristophanes [writes]: "they soften their wickedness with a word." Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "hide of a nasty ox". Meaning one…
- μ1309Μοχθηρίαwickedness, depravity, nastiness[Meaning] badness. As Lycurgus in the [speech] Against Lycophron [writes] : "for [it is] unholy to let go unpunished a man who is transgressing the written laws, through which the democracy is preserved, and who was a…
- μ1311Μόχθοςhardship, toil[Meaning] trouble. The Pisidian [writes]: "he was having no hardship in fording the Euphrates."
Neighbouring entries
Revision history7 revisions · last 19 Jan 2015
- coding, typo — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- expanded note — Catharine Roth
- tweaks and cosmetics throughout; another keyword; raised status — David Whitehead
- more tweaks — Catharine Roth
- tweaks — Catharine Roth
- Translated — Ronald Allen