Πτέρνα

heel

Translated by William Hutton3 Oct 2013Vetting: high5 revisions

3 notes · 53 words

Translation

[Meaning] trickery.
And plotting.1
Also [sc. attested is the related verb] 'I heel', [meaning] I cast down.
[Formed] out of a metaphor of those competing about speed, and plotting simultaneously to bash into their fellow-runners with their heel and make them fall.2 "For he has already heeled me a second time in this."3

Greek original · Adler’s text

Πτέρνα· ὁ δόλος. καὶ ἡ ἐπιβουλή. καὶ Πτερνίζω, τὸ καταβάλλω. ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν περὶ τάχους ἀγωνιζομένων, καὶ τῇ πτέρνῃ τοὺς συνθέοντας προσπταίειν ὁμοῦ καὶ πίπτειν μηχανωμένους. ἐπτέρνικε γάρ με ἤδη δεύτερον τοῦτο.

Betacode
*pte/rna: o( do/los. kai\ h( e)piboulh/. kai\ *pterni/zw, to\ kataba/llw. e)k metafora=s tw=n peri\ ta/xous a)gwnizome/nwn, kai\ th=| pte/rnh| tou\s sunqe/ontas prosptai/ein o(mou= kai\ pi/ptein mhxanwme/nous. e)pte/rnike ga/r me h)/dh deu/teron tou=to. 

Notes (3)

  1. The primary headword, a feminine noun, regularly refers to the body part or to something having the shape or function of that part. The meaning given to it here is not otherwise attested unambiguously, although the verb derived from it, pterni/zw, can mean 'trip up (by/with the heels)' in the sense of 'deceive'. The form of the headword, nominative singular, is perhaps a generic lexical reference; at any rate it is not drawn directly from the quotation given. See also pi 2010.
  2. 1With this second gloss, lacking in mss AFV, Adler compares Anecdota Graeca (Cramer) 2.464.10. ↩
  3. 2Adapted from Theodoret, commentary on Psalm 40:10 LXX (PG 80.1165), with some divergences, including an untranslatable loss of grammatical coherence (the closing participle should be genitive, not accusative). In the passage Theodoret is commenting on, a noun related to the headword, pternismo/s appears, rather than the headword itself. In Theodoret's comments the headword appears in the accusative and dative cases. ↩
  4. 3This quotation, which is also in Theodoret's comments, is from Genesis 27:36 LXX and contains the perfect tense of pterni/zw. ↩

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Revision history5 revisions · last 25 May 2016
  1. codings — David Whitehead
  2. Revised — David Whitehead
  3. tweaked n. 2 — William Hutton
  4. more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
  5. tweaked note, set status — Catharine Roth
  6. Translated — William Hutton

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