Θεριῶ
I will mow
Translated by Catharine Roth20 Feb 2008Vetting: high9 revisions
Translation
and komiw= ["I will provide"] and poriw= ["I will carry"] and o(riw= ["I will define"] and all the barytone [verbs] ending in -zw and having more than two syllables with short iota, the Attic-speakers pronounce in the future tense without sigma.1 [This is true of] the indicative and infinitive, but nowise [of] the subjunctive, for e)a\n qeriw= and e)a\n qeriw= [are] solecisms. But as for those [verbs] where the iota is lengthened and the future tense is pronounced with sigma and with the next-to-last syllable lengthened, like danei/zw ["I lend"], danei/sw , no more thus [is] the barbarous [form] daneiw= [used].2 As they say the Athenians, being gathered all together in the assembly in the matter of3 the successors, when they were in need of funds, then one of the rich men promised them money, saying something like "I will lend you [daneiw= ]" -- they made an uproar and did not allow him to speak because of the barbarism, and were not even willing to take the money; until the metic perceiving [this], or with someone prompting him, said "I will lend [danei/sw ] you this money;" then they approved and took it. Because of this badi/sw and badiw= are both acceptable, since also the present tense is pronounced both ways, with the [iota] in the middle syllable lengthened or shortened; but no more [do they say] a)gorw= or kolw= , for [these verbs] do not have an iota in the next-to-last syllable at all.4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Θεριῶ καὶ κομιῶ καὶ ποριῶ καὶ ὁριῶ καὶ πάντα τὰ εἰς ζω βαρύτονα καὶ ὑπὲρ δύο συλλαβὰς βραχυνόμενον τὸ ι ἔχοντα, ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι ἄνευ τοῦ ς ἐκφέρουσιν Ἀττικοί· τὰ γοῦν ὁριστικὰ καὶ ἀπαρέμφατα· τὰ δ' ὑποτακτικὰ οὐδαμῶς· σολοικισμὸς γὰρ τὸ ἐὰν θεριῶ καὶ ἐὰν κομιῶ. ἐφ' ὧν δὲ τὸ ι ἐκτείνεται καὶ σὺν τῷ ς ὁ μέλλων λέγεται χρόνος καὶ ἐκτεινομένης τῆς παρεσχάτης συλλαβῆς, οἷον δανείζω, δανείσω, οὐκέτι τὸ δὲ δανειῶ βάρβαρον οὕτως, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους φασὶν ἀθρόους εἰς ἐκκλησίαν συναθροισθέντας ἐπὶ τῶν διαδόχων, ἐπειδὴ εἰς ἀπορίαν καθεστήκεσαν χρημάτων, ἔπειτά τις αὐτοῖς τῶν πλουσίων ὑπισχνεῖτο ἀργύριον, οὕτω πως λέγων, ὅτι ἐγὼ ὑμῖν δανειῶ, θορυβεῖν καὶ οὐκ ἀνέχεσθαι λέγοντος διὰ τὸν βαρβαρισμὸν καὶ οὐδὲ λαβεῖν τὸ ἀργύριον ἐθέλειν· ἕως αἰσθόμενος ὁ μέτοικος, ἢ καὶ ὑποβαλόντος αὐτῷ τινος ἔφη, δανείσω ὑμῖν τοῦτο τὸ ἀργύριον· τότε δ' ἐπαινέσαι καὶ λαβεῖν. διὰ τοῦτο βαδίσω καὶ βαδιῶ, ἀμφότερα δόκιμα, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἐνεστηκὸς ἑκατέρως λέγεται, καὶ ἐκτεινομένου καὶ συστελλομένου τοῦ ἐν τῇ μέσῃ συλλαβῇ· οὐκέτι δὲ ἀγορῶ οὐδὲ κολῶ· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὅλως τῷ ι παραλήγει.
Betacode
*qeriw= kai\ komiw= kai\ poriw= kai\ o(riw= kai\ pa/nta ta\ ei)s zw baru/tona kai\ u(pe\r du/o sullaba\s braxuno/menon to\ i e)/xonta, e)n tw=| me/llonti a)/neu tou= s1 e)kfe/rousin *)attikoi/: ta\ gou=n o(ristika\ kai\ a)pare/mfata: ta\ d' u(potaktika\ ou)damw=s: soloikismo\s ga\r to\ e)a\n qeriw= kai\ e)a\n komiw=. e)f' w(=n de\ to\ i e)ktei/netai kai\ su\n tw=| s1 o( me/llwn le/getai xro/nos kai\ e)kteinome/nhs th=s paresxa/ths sullabh=s, oi(=on danei/zw, danei/sw, ou)ke/ti to\ de\ daneiw= ba/rbaron ou(/tws, w(/ste kai\ tou\s *)aqhnai/ous fasi\n a)qro/ous ei)s e)kklhsi/an sunaqroisqe/ntas e)pi\ tw=n diado/xwn, e)peidh\ ei)s a)pori/an kaqesth/kesan xrhma/twn, e)/peita/ tis au)toi=s tw=n plousi/wn u(pisxnei=to a)rgu/rion, ou(/tw pws le/gwn, o(/ti e)gw\ u(mi=n daneiw=, qorubei=n kai\ ou)k a)ne/xesqai le/gontos dia\ to\n barbarismo\n kai\ ou)de\ labei=n to\ a)rgu/rion e)qe/lein: e(/ws ai)sqo/menos o( me/toikos, h)\ kai\ u(pobalo/ntos au)tw=| tinos e)/fh, danei/sw u(mi=n tou=to to\ a)rgu/rion: to/te d' e)paine/sai kai\ labei=n. dia\ tou=to badi/sw kai\ badiw=, a)mfo/tera do/kima, e)pei\ kai\ au)to\ to\ e)nesthko\s e(kate/rws le/getai, kai\ e)kteinome/nou kai\ sustellome/nou tou= e)n th=| me/sh| sullabh=|: ou)ke/ti de\ a)gorw= ou)de\ kolw=: ou)de\ ga\r o(/lws tw=| i paralh/gei.
Notes (4)
- Also in Photius (Lexicon theta117 Theodoridis); see the long note there.
The historical anecdote embedded in the middle of this material is bizarre. In date it belongs in the last quarter of the C4 or the early C3 BCE (thus, at any rate, if 'the successors' are those of Alexander the Great: see e.g. under beta 147); but no metic (mu 830) should have been speaking at a meeting of the Athenian Assembly. In fact, as S.A. Naber realised (Mnemosyne 28 (1900) 108), it is a version of an anecdote told by Plutarch, Moralia 183B, about the arrival of Demetrius Poliorcetes in Athens in 294: 'the Athenians had revolted, but [Demetrius] took the city, which was already in a bad way because of a lack of grain; an assembly was immediately convened by him, and he presented them with a gift of grain, but in speaking about these matters he said something (sc. linguistically) barbaric. One of these sitting there repeated the locution as it should have been said. "So", said he, "for this correction I give you another five thousand bushels".' On this episode see generally Plutarch, Demetrius 34; C. Habicht, Athens from Alexander to Antony (Cambridge Mass. 1997) 87. The divergences between the Plut. and the Photius/Suda versions are not inconsiderable, but it could reasonably be suggested that 'o( me/toikos ' is a corruption of 'o( *dhmh/trios '. - 1Verbs like
qeri/zw ,komi/zw ,pori/zw , ando(ri/zw have "Attic futures" with-iw= (Smyth §539e: web address 1). They are called "barytone" meaning that they are not contract verbs but have normal recessive accent. ↩ - 2On the difference between "solecism" and "barbarism," see beta 104 and sigma 782. ↩
- 3Or: in the time of. ↩
- 4Verbs like
a)gora/zw "buy" andkola/zw "punish" have futures with sigma, not "Attic futures." ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from1 entry
Neighbouring entries
Revision history9 revisions · last 15 Aug 2019
- coding, cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
- cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
- tweaked note — Catharine Roth
- Revised — Catharine Roth
- fixed link — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- more on the anecdote — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- augmented primary note; more keywords — David Whitehead
- Translated — Catharine Roth