Πρέσβις
ambassador, envoy
Translated by Ronald Allen2 Aug 2011Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
[pre/sbis ], [genitive] pre/sbews , [accented] as a proparoxytone. But certainly not from the nominative presbeu/s ; for those who say [so] are mistaken.1
Also2 attested are both [the genitive plurals]pre/sbewn and presbeutw=n , each in the orators. But the former is customary and observant of a Greek analogy, whenever they say pre/sbeis ["ambassadors"]. We also find [sc. attested] presbeuta/s .3
Also2 attested are both [the genitive plurals]
Greek original · Adler’s text
Πρέσβις, πρέσβεως, προπαροξυτόνως. οὐχὶ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πρεσβεὺς εὐθείας· οἱ γὰρ λέγοντες ἁμαρτάνουσι. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Πρέσβεων καὶ Πρεσβευτῶν, ἑκατέρως παρὰ τοῖς ῥήτορσιν. ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν καθωμιλημένον καὶ Ἑλληνικὴν ἀναλογίαν σῷζον, ὅταν εἴπωσι πρέσβεις. εὑρίσκομεν δὲ καὶ πρεσβευτάς.
Betacode
*pre/sbis, pre/sbews, proparocuto/nws. ou)xi\ de\ a)po\ th=s presbeu\s eu)qei/as: oi( ga\r le/gontes a(marta/nousi. le/getai de\ kai\ *pre/sbewn kai\ *presbeutw=n, e(kate/rws para\ toi=s r(h/torsin. e)/sti de\ to\ me\n kaqwmilhme/non kai\ *(ellhnikh\n a)nalogi/an sw=|zon, o(/tan ei)/pwsi pre/sbeis. eu(ri/skomen de\ kai\ presbeuta/s.
Notes (3)
- The headword is a masculine noun in the nominative (and vocative) singular; see generally LSJ s.v.
pre/sbis (A). It is presumably generated from its occurrence in the genitive singular at Aristophanes, Acharnians 93 (see next note): Dicaeopolis expresses the sarcastic wish that a crow might peck out the eye of Pseudo-Artabas and of the ambassador as well.
The genitive's proparoxytone (on the antepenult) accent, noted by the Suda, is an exception; cf. Smyth 163 and another instance of this declension at kappa 1021. - 1Following the scholia to Aristophanes, Acharnians 93 (web address 1), which contend that
pre/sbews is the genitive case forpre/sbis , not forpresbeu/s ; cf. Grammatici Graeci, pp. 232-3. ↩ - 2The material that now follows = Photius, Lexicon pi1152 Theodoridis, on the genitive plural forms of the masculine nouns
presbeu/s andpresbeuth/s (ambassador, envoy); see generally LSJ s.vv. It is unclear why oratory is specified: both these forms, esp. the first, are commonplace elsewhere too. ↩ - 3This common form is the accusative plural of the aforementioned masculine noun
presbeuth/s . ↩
References
H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956
Grammatici Graeci, vol. IV, parts 1&2, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1965
Grammatici Graeci, vol. IV, parts 1&2, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1965
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 13 Oct 2013
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaked translation a little more — Catharine Roth
- tweaked tr — David Whitehead
- modified headword and notes; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen