Παιδία
childhood, childishness
Translated by Ronald Allen10 Jun 2008Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
Thus the Attic Greeks [say it] with a short final syllable and paroxytone accent, as applying to a plaything.1 Aristophanes in Wealth [writes]: "[sc. Play] here, with nuts" -- "What kind of game [is that]?"2
Eunapius [writes]: "and they, believing it [to be] some kind of game contrived by their enemies, so outrageous that they could not tolerate it, were made to scream as much out loud against those whom they attacked."3
Butpaidei/a [meaning] education [is spelled] with a diphthong.4
Eunapius [writes]: "and they, believing it [to be] some kind of game contrived by their enemies, so outrageous that they could not tolerate it, were made to scream as much out loud against those whom they attacked."3
But
Greek original · Adler’s text
Παιδία· οὕτως Ἀττικοὶ βραχυκαταλήκτως καὶ παροξυτόνως, ἐπὶ τοῦ παιγνίου. Ἀριστοφάνης Πλούτῳ· αὐτοῦ λαβοῦσα κάρυα. παιδιὰν τίνα; Εὐνάπιος· καὶ οἱ μὲν παιδιάν τινα ἐκ τῶν πολεμίων ἡγούμενοι τοσοῦτον ἐδυσχέραινον, ὅσον ἠναγκάζοντο βοᾶν, καθ' οὓς ἐμβάλοιεν. Παιδεία δὲ ἡ παίδευσις διὰ διφθόγγου.
Betacode
*paidi/a: ou(/tws *)attikoi\ braxukatalh/ktws kai\ parocuto/nws, e)pi\ tou= paigni/ou. *)aristofa/nhs *plou/tw|: au)tou= labou=sa ka/rua. paidia\n ti/na; *eu)na/pios: kai\ oi( me\n paidia/n tina e)k tw=n polemi/wn h(gou/menoi tosou=ton e)dusxe/rainon, o(/son h)nagka/zonto boa=n, kaq' ou(\s e)mba/loien. *paidei/a de\ h( pai/deusis dia\ difqo/ggou.
Notes (4)
- The headword is a feminine noun in the nominative singular. The Suda's source is uncertain, as the exact headword does not appear in the quotations given. These in fact pertain to
paidia/ , an oxytone (Smyth, 157) with long final alpha, which is already glossed at both pi 855 and pi 856 [n.1]. The headword is nevertheless well-attested. It appears, for example, in the genitive singular at Plato, Laws 808E (web address 1), meaning childhood and again in the dative singular at Plato, Laws 864D (web address 2), meaning childishness. - 1From the scholia to Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 1056 (web address 3); cf. next note. There the headword phrase is
paidia\n ti/na , and the scholiast correctly observes thatpaidia/ means plaything or game. The existence of an Attic cognate that is brachycatalectic and paroxytone -- ending in a short syllable (Dickey, p. 230) and accented on the penultimate syllable (Smyth, 157), respectively-- is noted, but the word itself (paidi/a ) is not given. (There is an Ionic form, paroxytone too, but with a long ultima:paidi/h , childhood; see LSJ s.v.paidi/a .) Moreover, the scholiast conflates the meaning ofpaidia/ withpaidi/a ; cf. Etymologicum Magnum 657.50-3 and Herodian, On orthography 3.2.563.2. Furthermore, here the Suda adds to the confusion by supplying the Attic cognate absent from the scholion and by further adducing an excerpt from Eunapius [n.3] that exemplifies oxytonepaidia/ , not paroxytonepaidi/a . However, both Theognostus, Canones 31.6 (Anecdota Oxoniensia 2.10.22) and ps.-Herodian 106.11 correctly associateto\ pai/gnion with the oxytonepaidia/ . [Adler's apparatus indicates that Aemilius Portus preferred that the Attic cognate be identified as oxytone.] ↩ - 2Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 1056 (web address 3), with scholion. The quotation is part of the stichomythia between the Old Woman and the Young Man, a familiar boor from her past, who suggests they play the guessing game described already at pi 856. ↩
- 3Eunapius fr. 102 FHG (4.54); Blockley, pp. 124-5. [Adler notes that Bernhardy believed
boa=n to be corrupt.] ↩ - 4cf. pi 853. ↩
References
H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956
E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1983
E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1983
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 3 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from4 entries
- κ433ΚάρυαnutThe [sc. nut-bearing] tree. But [differently-accented] ka/rua [plural] [are] the fruit.
- π853Παιδείαeducation[Meaning] learning. "We believe that a genuine education [paideia] is not a subtlety politicked with words and with speech, but the healthy disposition of a prudent understanding and true opinions about good things and…
- 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."
- π856Παιδιάgame, sport, child's playWhat 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.…
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 18 Sep 2013
- tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
- Translated — Ronald Allen