Νιτάριον
Nitarion
Translated by Jennifer Benedict10 Apr 2008Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
and Bitarion: pet-names [addressed] to women:1 Nitarion [is] like "nestling" [neo/ttion ], that is little girl. But Symmachus2 says, "Nitarus was greatly chided for effeminacy and [sc. so was] Batus." And they used to call small and feminine [women] dwarflettes; and there is a play of Theopompus [called] Dwarflette [Batyle].3 Others say [they] are types of plants. So he wishes to say that she is like flowers. Aristophanes [writes]: "by Zeus, if he felt I was sad, he'd call me 'duckling' and 'dovey'."4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Νιτάριον καὶ Βιτάριον· ὑποκοριστικὰ πρὸς γυναῖκας· νιτάριον, οἷον νεόττιον, τουτέστι κοράσιον. Σύμμαχος δέ φησι, Νίταρος πολὺς ἐπὶ μαλακίᾳ ὀνειδιζόμενος καὶ Βάτος. καὶ τὰς μικρὰς καὶ θηλείας βατύλας ἔλεγον· καὶ Θεοπόμπου δρᾶμά ἐστι Βατύλη. οἱ δέ φασιν εἴδη φυτῶν. θέλει οὖν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὡς ἄνθη εἶχεν. Ἀριστοφάνης· νὴ Δί', εἰ λυπουμένην γ' αἰσθάνοιτό με, νιτάριον καὶ βιτάριον ὑπεκορίζετο.
Betacode
*nita/rion kai\ *bita/rion: u(pokoristika\ pro\s gunai=kas: nita/rion, oi(=on neo/ttion, toute/sti kora/sion. *su/mmaxos de/ fhsi, *ni/taros polu\s e)pi\ malaki/a| o)neidizo/menos kai\ *ba/tos. kai\ ta\s mikra\s kai\ qhlei/as batu/las e)/legon: kai\ *qeopo/mpou dra=ma/ e)sti *batu/lh. oi( de/ fasin ei)/dh futw=n. qe/lei ou)=n ei)pei=n, o(/ti w(s a)/nqh ei)=xen. *)aristofa/nhs: nh\ *di/', ei) lupoume/nhn g' ai)sqa/noito/ me, nita/rion kai\ bita/rion u(pekori/zeto.
Notes (4)
- 1Often the names of prostitutes in New Comedy are neuter diminutives like the headwords; the Latin plays of Plautus and Terence deriving from New Comedy translate these names into neuters in -ium. ↩
- 2An Aristophanic commentator of the early Christian era. ↩
- 3For Theopompus see generally theta 171. (No fragments of this particular comedy survive, but see Kassel-Austin, PCG 7.712.) ↩
- 4Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 1010-1011 (web address 1). Much of this entry is taken from the scholia to these lines. However, texts of Aristophanes usually read
nhtta/rion , emended from the meaninglessnita/rion of the mss (and again here) by Bentley, andfa/ttion , Bentley's emendation forba/tion of the mss (notbita/rion as here). The Suda's ms G (= Parisinus 2623) shows*ba/ttion , as does M (= Marcianus 448) over an erasure. ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history4 revisions · last 18 Nov 2020
- coding — Catharine Roth
- expanded n.3 — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- augmented notes; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Jennifer Benedict