Οἴσπη
sheep-grease
Translated by Catharine Roth16 Jun 2005Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
Greek original · Adler’s text
Οἴσπη· ῥυπαρῶν προβάτων ἔρια. Ἡρόδοτος. καὶ Οἰσπώτη, ὁ ῥύπος τῶν ἐρίων.
Betacode
*oi)/sph: r(uparw=n proba/twn e)/ria. *(hro/dotos. kai\ *oi)spw/th, o( r(u/pos tw=n e)ri/wn.
Notes (2)
- cf. omicroniota 185, omicroniota 186. LSJ distinguishes between
oi)su/ph , 'the grease extracted from sheep's wool', andoi)/sph (with its variantoi)spwth/ ), 'the dung that collects about the hinder parts of sheep or goats'. The similarity between the two words makes confusion between them -- in ancient and modern writers alike -- even more of a hazard than it would have been anyway. (Besides the present headword, which ought to have beenoi)su/ph , see e.g. the variae lectiones in the Herodotus passage cited in n.1 below.) - 1Herodotus 4.187.2: four-year-old Libyan nomad children have the veins on top of their head cauterized with it. (The present gloss is from the glosses there.) ↩
- 2For this term see e.g. Aristophanes, Lysistrata 575 (where Henderson's note fails to make the necessary distinction). ↩
Linked from2 entries
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 8 Aug 2013
- Revised — David Whitehead
- betacode cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
- modified headword; supplied notes; added a keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Catharine Roth