Νεοθηγεῖ
new-whetted
Translated by Catharine Roth13 Dec 2003Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] recently sharpened. "But [your mother] when you perished cut the gray locks from her elderly head with new-whetted steel."1
Greek original · Adler’s text
Νεοθηγεῖ· νεωστὶ ἀκονηθέντι. ἡ δὲ σέθεν φθιμένης πολιοὺς νεοθηγεῖ σιδήρῳ κείρατο γηραλέης ἐκ κεφαλῆς πλοκάμους.
Betacode
*neoqhgei=: newsti\ a)konhqe/nti. h( de\ se/qen fqime/nhs poliou\s neoqhgei= sidh/rw| kei/rato ghrale/hs e)k kefalh=s ploka/mous.
Notes (1)
- The headword, dative singular of the adjective
neoqhgh/s , is extracted from the quotation (but see note 1). - 1Greek Anthology 7.181.3-4 (Andronicus): the dialect should be Doric, with the dative
neoqh=gi fromneoqh/c . On this epigram, an epitaph for one Damocrateia, see Page (10-11). Page notes (11) that it was a long-standing ancient tradition for women to cut their hair during a time of mourning. Paton (102-103) does translatesi/dhros (iron, here in the dative singular) as "steel"; although steel was known to the Greeks from the time of Alexander, it was used exclusively in the form of Damascene steel for sword fabrication, not for hair-cutting instruments; cf. Ginzel (web address 1). ↩
References
D.L. Page, ed., Further Greek Epigrams, (Cambridge 1981)
W.R. Paton, trans., The Greek Anthology: Books VII-VIII, (Cambridge, MA 1993)
W.R. Paton, trans., The Greek Anthology: Books VII-VIII, (Cambridge, MA 1993)
External resources
- Web address 1 dtrinkle.matse.illinois.edu
Neighbouring entries
Revision history7 revisions · last 28 May 2023
- tweak bibliography — Ronald Allen
- further expanded n.1, added to bibliography, added keyword, added link — Ronald Allen
- expanded n.1, added bibliography — Ronald Allen
- expanded notes — Catharine Roth
- tweaked note — Catharine Roth
- another note; more keywords — David Whitehead
- keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Catharine Roth