Φοινικελίτης

Notes

1. Probably to be identified with the notice in Theognostus 138, foinikelh/kths: o( a)pathlo/s. Both foinikeli/ths and foinikelh/kths are unattested outside lexicography and indecipherable morphologically, and are probably independent corruptions of foinikeli/kths, the accusative singular form of which appears in Hesychius phi687: foinikeli/kthn lo/gwn a)la/zona: a)pathlo\n kai\ kaphlo/n ("'purple-twisting braggart in words': deceitful and a huckster"). The first three words of this entry form an iambic trimeter with an initial syllable missing, and have been listed as an unattributable fragment of either comedy (fr. 438 Kassel-Austin (1293 Kock)) or tragedy (fr. 271 Nauck and Kannicht-Snell). The translation of the headword offered here is conjectural. The second element, -elikths appears to be a deverbative derivative of e)li/ssw ('twist'). The first element may relate to any of the many connotations of the word foi=nic, which include 'purple', 'Phoenician' (the Phoenicians had a reputation among the Greeks for outlawry and dishonesty; cf. alpha 4648, phi 796), and 'date palm'.
   Similar entry in Zonaras 1816, and Adler also cites Lexicon Ambrosianum 396.