Σκινδάλαμοι
splinters
Translated by William Hutton22 Feb 2014Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] the shavings of [= from] reeds, or spikes.1
The intense working-out of particulars is 'splinters': this has an oxytone accent in the nominative but paroxytone in the oblique cases.2 'Splinters' therefore are subtleties of speech.3 Aristophanes in Clouds: "I will learn splinters of precise words."4
Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "linchpins of splinters":5 strictly speaking 'splinter' is a shaving around the bark of the reed, and 'linchpins' is like 'dangerous' and 'reckless', as they are dragged around the wheel.
The intense working-out of particulars is 'splinters': this has an oxytone accent in the nominative but paroxytone in the oblique cases.2 'Splinters' therefore are subtleties of speech.3 Aristophanes in Clouds: "I will learn splinters of precise words."4
Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "linchpins of splinters":5 strictly speaking 'splinter' is a shaving around the bark of the reed, and 'linchpins' is like 'dangerous' and 'reckless', as they are dragged around the wheel.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Σκινδάλαμοι· τὰ τῶν καλάμων ἀποξύσματα, ἢ σκόλοπες. ἡ ἐπεξεργασία τῶν ἀκριβῶν σκινδάλαμοι· τοῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ μὲν εὐθείας ὀξύνεται, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πλαγίων παροξύνεται. σκινδαλάμους οὖν λεπτολογίας. Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις· λόγων ἀκριβῶν σκινδαλάμους μαθήσομαι. καὶ Σκινδαλμῶν παραξόνια· σκινδαλμὸς κυρίως τὸ περὶ τὸν φλοιὸν τοῦ καλάμου ξέσμα· παραξόνια δὲ οἷον κινδυνώδη καὶ παράβολα, περὶ τὸν τροχὸν ἑλκόμενα.
Betacode
*skinda/lamoi: ta\ tw=n kala/mwn a)pocu/smata, h)\ sko/lopes. h( e)pecergasi/a tw=n a)kribw=n skinda/lamoi: tou=to de\ e)pi\ me\n eu)qei/as o)cu/netai, e)pi\ de\ tw=n plagi/wn parocu/netai. skindala/mous ou)=n leptologi/as. *)aristofa/nhs *nefe/lais: lo/gwn a)kribw=n skindala/mous maqh/somai. kai\ *skindalmw=n paraco/nia: skindalmo\s kuri/ws to\ peri\ to\n floio\n tou= kala/mou ce/sma: paraco/nia de\ oi(=on kindunw/dh kai\ para/bola, peri\ to\n troxo\n e(lko/mena.
Notes (5)
- The bulk of this entry comes from commentary to the two Aristophanes passages quoted below. Both within this entry and in the preserved attestations of the headword in general there is much alternation between the variant spellings of the headword noun,
skinda/lamos andskindalmo/s. Luckily this entry is free from another attested variation betweenskinda/lamos -skindalmo/s andsxinda/lamos -sxindalmo/s . (Moeris sigma50 identifies the latter as an Atticism.) - 1= Synagoge sigma123 (with the variant spelling
skindalmoi/ ); Photius, Lexicon sigma333 Theodoridis; for the second gloss cf. ps.-Herodian (On Orthography 3.2.581), Hesychius sigma1008. ↩ - 2A curious statement, since the most recently mentioned form of the word,
skinda/lamoi , is nominative and proparoxytone. In general, not just the nominative but all forms of the variantskindalmo/s are oxytone (apart from genitive and dative plural which are perispomenon), whereas only the oblique forms of the variantskinda/lamoi (apart from accusative singular) are paroxytone. It is as if the commentator thinks that certain forms of the two variants form a single, hybrid declension. ↩ - 3cf. scholia to Lucian (67.5 Rabe). ↩
- 4Aristophanes, Clouds 130. ↩
- 5Aristophanes, Frogs 819, exhibiting essentially the readings of the mss and the scholia (with metrically inconsequential variations between
sxindala/mwn andskindalmw=n, etc.). In his OCT Wilson adopts a conjecture of Dover reversing the case of the nouns:skinda/lamoi te paraconi/wn : "splinters of linchpins". ↩
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 26 May 2016
- coding and other cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaking; raised status — David Whitehead
- cosmetics, status — Catharine Roth
- Translated — William Hutton