Πτεροφοίτωρ
wing-traveling
Translated by William Hutton30 Sep 2013Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
"Possessed of wing-traveling speed as much as anyone, simply, hastening to the place beyond the sky, where the race of winged ones grazes."1
Greek original · Adler’s text
Πτεροφοίτωρ. τάχους ὡς ἔχει τις πτεροφοίτορος ἀτεχνῶς ἐς τὸν ὑπερουράνιον ἱέμενον τόπον, ὅπου τὸ τῶν ἐπτερωμένων νέμεται γένος.
Betacode
*pterofoi/twr. ta/xous w(s e)/xei tis pterofoi/toros a)texnw=s e)s to\n u(peroura/nion i(e/menon to/pon, o(/pou to\ tw=n e)pterwme/nwn ne/metai ge/nos.
Notes (1)
- The unglossed headword, in the nominative singular, occurs in the genitive singular in the quotation given.
- 1Damascius, Life of Isidore fr. 78 Zintzen (36 Asmus); cf. similar language in Photius' epitome of the Life of Isidore, Biblioteca 337b.22-24, although the current headword does not occur in Photius, or anywhere else outside the Suda. Compound nouns with a final element
-foitwr (presumably related to the verbfoita/w ('travel', 'visit')) are in general nearly non-existent; one other example,xqonofoi/tores ('earth-traveling', a poetic epithet for the Moirai), is attested in Joannes of Gaza, Carmina Anacreontea 5.5. The language of this fragment, and of the corresponding section of Photius' epitome, is heavily redolent of Plato's Phaedrus (see e.g. Phaedrus 247C on the "place beyond the sky" where the "winged ones" (sc. souls) graze)); it is possible that this rare and unusually-formed term was inspired by the Platonic hapaxpterofu/tor (a ) ('wing-sprouting') at Phaedrus 252B, which would have been indistinguishable in pronunciation from the present headword in late Greek. ↩
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Revision history4 revisions · last 10 Apr 2015
- note cosmetics, at the prompting of Ron Allen — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- added primary note; tweaks; raised status — David Whitehead
- typo, betacode tweak — Catharine Roth
- Translated — William Hutton