Παιδιά
game, sport, child's play
Translated by Ronald Allen28 May 2008Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
What kind of child's game is this amongst Athenians[?]: Someone, having picked up some nuts and extended his hand, asks, "How many do I have?" And if [sc. the other player] guesses correctly, he takes as many as [sc. the opponent] holds in his hand; but if he is wrong in his answer, he pays back as many as the one who asked is discovered to be holding in his hand.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Παιδιά· παιδιά τίς ἐστι τοιαύτη παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις· δραξάμενός τις καρύων καὶ ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα ἐρωτᾷ, πόσα ἔχω; καὶ ἐὰν ἐπιτύχῃ, λαμβάνει ὅσα ἔχει ἐν τῇ χειρί· ἐὰν δὲ ἁμάρτῃ κατὰ τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, ἀποτίνει ὅσα ἂν ὁ ἐρωτήσας εὑρεθείη ἔχων ἐν τῇ χειρί.
Betacode
*paidia/: paidia/ ti/s e)sti toiau/th para\ *)aqhnai/ois: draca/meno/s tis karu/wn kai\ e)ktei/nas th\n xei=ra e)rwta=|, po/sa e)/xw; kai\ e)a\n e)pitu/xh|, lamba/nei o(/sa e)/xei e)n th=| xeiri/: e)a\n de\ a(ma/rth| kata\ th\n a)po/krisin, a)poti/nei o(/sa a)\n o( e)rwth/sas eu(reqei/h e)/xwn e)n th=| xeiri/.
Notes
- From the scholia to Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 1057 (web address 1), where the headword appears in the accusative case: the youth tells the old hag to play a game with nuts, and she asks 'what game'? See under pi 857.
For this headword see already pi 855, (It differs from the headword of pi 857 by the final long alpha and by having its accent on the ultima). In the present entry its nominative singular form comes from the scholiast's rhetorical question, here taken over.
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from2 entries
- π855Παιδιάchild's play, game, sport[Meaning a] plaything/toy. "Timasius seemed to be going to assume that the emperor and the eunuch [were] some kind of incidental child's play."
- π857Παιδίαchildhood, childishnessThus the Attic Greeks [say it] with a short final syllable and paroxytone accent, as applying to a plaything. Aristophanes in Wealth [writes]: "[sc. Play] here, with nuts" -- "What kind of game [is that]?" Eunapius…
Neighbouring entries
Revision history4 revisions · last 2 Sep 2011
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaked again — Catharine Roth
- tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
- streamlined notes; more keywords; tweaks — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen