Νῶροψ
gleaming
Translated by Robert Leigh9 Sep 2009Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] bright.1
The etymologists2 [derive it] from the deprivation [ne- ] of the power of sight [o(ra=n ]. For they say that things that are really bright dazzle and disperse the power of sight, so that "gleaming bronze" [is] bronze which does not allow itself to be looked at. But Epaphroditos,3 knowing that there is a city of Pannonia called Norakos,4 the citizen of which [is] a Norakian, records that in Pannonia there occurs iron which is very bright when sharpened. Hence he says that bronze is spoken of as norops, as if one were to call it "Norakian".
The etymologists2 [derive it] from the deprivation [
Greek original · Adler’s text
Νῶροψ· ὁ λαμπρός. οἱ μὲν ἐτυμολόγοι παρὰ τὴν στέρησιν τοῦ ὁρᾶν· ἀμαυροῖ γάρ, φασί, τὴν ὄψιν τὰ πάνυ λαμπρὰ καὶ διαχεῖ, ὥστε νῶροψ χαλκός, ὁ μὴ ἐῶν ὁρᾶν εἰς αὐτόν. Ἐπαφρόδιτος δὲ εἰδὼς Νώρακον πόλιν Παννονίας, ἧς ὁ πολίτης Νωράκιος, γίνεσθαι ἱστορεῖ ἐν Παννονίᾳ σίδηρον, ὃς ἀκονηθεὶς λαμπρότατός ἐστιν. ὅθεν καὶ νώροπά φησιν εἰρῆσθαι χαλκόν, ὡς εἴ τις εἴποι Νωράκιον.
Betacode
*nw=roy: o( lampro/s. oi( me\n e)tumolo/goi para\ th\n ste/rhsin tou= o(ra=n: a)mauroi= ga/r, fasi/, th\n o)/yin ta\ pa/nu lampra\ kai\ diaxei=, w(/ste nw=roy xalko/s, o( mh\ e)w=n o(ra=n ei)s au)to/n. *)epafro/ditos de\ ei)dw\s *nw/rakon po/lin *pannoni/as, h(=s o( poli/ths *nwra/kios, gi/nesqai i(storei= e)n *pannoni/a| si/dhron, o(\s a)konhqei\s lampro/tato/s e)stin. o(/qen kai\ nw/ropa/ fhsin ei)rh=sqai xalko/n, w(s ei)/ tis ei)/poi *nwra/kion.
Notes (4)
- 1Similar glossing in other lexica, including Apollonius' Homeric Lexicon, and in the scholia to Homer, Iliad 2.578 (web address 1) and 7.206. ↩
- 2This supplementary part of the entry draws on Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. Norakos. ↩
- 3A grammarian, apparently a slave living in the time of Nero. All our knowledge of him is derived from epsilon 2004, which see and further references and bibliography there. ↩
- 4Pannonia was a Roman province occupying roughly the western half of present-day Hungary, adjoining a separate kingdom or province, Noricum, occupying roughly modern Austria. Noricum was indeed famous for steel weapons: Horace, Odes 1.16.9 (web address 2), refers to "Noricus ensis" meaning a particularly sharp sword. As
nw=roy appears in Homer (see above) it is impossible that this etymology is correct. See also pi 206. ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
Neighbouring entries
Revision history7 revisions · last 15 Apr 2015
- re-ordered links — Catharine Roth
- coding — Catharine Roth
- tweaked link — Catharine Roth
- supplemented note — Catharine Roth
- tweaked notes; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaks — Catharine Roth
- Translated — Robert Leigh