Τρυγοδαίμονες
dregs-spirited, poor-devil poets, comedians
Translated by David Whitehead23 Feb 2014Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
Just like the [term] kakodai/mones ['evil-spirited ones']. [sc. It is appropriate] because they used to employ licentious behavior1 a lot, [and] by virtue of shunning reverence of the divine they devoted themselves to ribaldry.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Τρυγοδαίμονες· ὥσπερ τὸ κακοδαίμονες. ἐπεὶ πολλῇ τῇ αἰσχροποιΐᾳ ἐχρῶντο, παρ' ὅσον ἀφέμενοι τὸ σέβεσθαι τὸ θεῖον περὶ τὸ σκώπτειν ἐτρέποντο.
Betacode
*trugodai/mones: w(/sper to\ kakodai/mones. e)pei\ pollh=| th=| ai)sxropoii/+a| e)xrw=nto, par' o(/son a)fe/menoi to\ se/besqai to\ qei=on peri\ to\ skw/ptein e)tre/ponto.
Notes (1)
- This entry is similar to material in the scholia to Aristophanes, Clouds 260, where the headword, which appears only in that passage and in commentary thereto, is used to describe comic poets. The word is ostensibly a compound of
tru/c ('new wine', 'wine dregs', etc.) anddai/mwn ('spirit'), and is explained variously by the scholiasts as referring to the habitual drunkenness of the poets during performance or to the practice of performing with the face smeared with wine dregs. The sense is difficult to capture in translation with one word: 'poor-devil poets' is the attempt by LSJ, 'comedians' by Dover and Sommerstein. - 1
*ai)sxropoii/+a is claimed by LSJ, with reference to this very material, as a euphemism for fellatio. But the case for this is unclear; we prefer a more general sense, as translated here (and illustrated in, notably, the corpus of the Christian author Epiphanius: 1.234, 1.269, 1.274). ↩
Neighbouring entries
Revision history4 revisions · last 18 Oct 2022
- cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
- tweaked notes — David Whitehead
- typo — Catharine Roth
- tweaked headword and translation, augmented notes, added keywords, raised status — William Hutton
- Translated — David Whitehead