patrii sermonis egestas

So Lucretius 1.832 and 3.260. Horace, Ars Poetica, also addressed this point and others of lexical interest (ll. 47-72).

dixeris egregie, notum si callida verbum

reddiderit iunctura novum. si forte necesse est          

indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum et

fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis,          

continget dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter,           

et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem, si

Graeco fonte cadent parce detorta. quid autem

Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus ademptum

Vergilio Varioque? ego cur, adquirere pauca

si possum, invideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni

sermonem patrium ditaverit et nova rerum

nomina protulerit? licuit semperque licebit    

signatum praesente nota producere nomen.    

ut silvae foliis pronos mutantur in annos,

prima cadunt: ita verborum vetus interit aetas,

et iuvenum ritu florent modo nata vigentque.

debemur morti nos nostraque: sive receptus

terra Neptunus classes Aquilonibus arcet,

regis opus, sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis             

vicinas urbes alit et grave sentit aratrum,       

seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis   

doctus iter melius: mortalia facta peribunt,    

nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax.   

multa renascentur quae iam cecidere cadentque          

quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus,      

quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendi.

Words and meanings come and go. Cf. too 'The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again.' -- Tom Stoppard, Arcadia.

'The best words in the best order', as my English teacher used to quote.

Other notes from the AP shall follow. For now, there is the plural of the personal name Piso (ll. 6 and 235, in reference to the father and his sons) and of the toponym Anticyra (ll. 299-301): nanciscetur enim pretium nomenque poetae, | si tribus Anticyris caput insanabile numquam | tonsori Licino commiserit (Loeb: 'for surely one will win the esteem and name of poet if he never entrusts to the barber Licinus a head that three Anticyras cannot cure'). Cf. Persius 4.16.

Compounds in σοφο-

The name Σοφοκλέης/Σοφοκλῆς is very family, but there are surprisingly few compounds with σοφο- as a first member (contrast φιλό-σοφος, etc.). LSJ knows σοφο-τέχηνης from an inscription of 149 AD, σοφό-νους as a nonce-word in Lucian (Colvin 2007: 270-271, no. 92),  and cites the curious σοφιβόλος from P.Oxy. XVI 1873 (actually a ghostword: ἀ<μ>φιβόλον is now read instead of σοφιβῶλον), but reports no others.


That inscription ends with a Roman date (by consuls and with reference to the Ides of No(v)ember) in a dative (!) absolute: Ὀρφίτῳ καὶ Σοσ|σίῳ Πρείσκῳ ὑπάτοις, εἴδοις Νοεμβρίαις. Jannaris (1897: 499-500) cites several examples, but not this one.

The Revised Supplement, p. 279, reports σοφο-διδάσκαλος from an inscription from Sardis.

E.A. Sophocles, pp. 1001-1002, reports σοφό-δωρος (and a feminine counterpart in -δοτις) and σοφο-ποιός with its derivatives, all from Pseudo-Dionysios.


The onomastic data confirms the rarity of σοφο- compounds:

[ Note that Λαϝόσοϝος is falsely returned (see CEG I 444). ]

All of this serves to underline that the Teacher of Rhetoric's suggestion that one should sprinkle in words like σοφόνους is comical. There too χειρί-σοφος is recommended, which appears as a name 4x. Colvin translates 'cheirosophic'.

Plautus in LSJ

On the continuing thread of Greek words and meanings cited from Latin texts, all instances of 'Plaut.' in LSJ can be gathered automatically.

The Cena Trimalchionis as a proportion of the extant works of Petronius

The image below shows the Bude edn. of Petronius.

The uppermost white band is the Introduction, the unmarked space below is the Satyricon (text and French translation) before the Cena, which is represented by the next white band down. The next unmarked space is the remainder of the Satyricon

The final white band represents the fragments, beneath which, hardly visible, are the indices personarum and metrorum.

The Edict of Diocletian in LSJ

All citations of Ed. Diocl. can be readily gathered.

Some Septuagintal notes

Proverbs
Chapter 6 has an addition after verse eight about bees that came from Aristotle (of all people).

Daniel and its related additions
One group of witnesses (including P 967) has the chapters in the following order: 1-4, 7-8, 5-6, and 9-12.

This sequence is chronological (all of events of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, then of Belshazzar, then of the Persian kings). By contrast, the MT's order apparently separates the material by genre (third person narrative, then first person apocalyptic [reported in direct speech in chapter 7]) and by language Hebrew (1:1-2:4, cf. Συριστί), then Aramaic (2:4-7:28), then Hebrew (8-12).

The Jerusalem Temple and μεσότοιχον

Warning signs informed gentiles to proceed no further. Josephus comments,

"Proceeding across this [the open court] towards the second court of the temple, one found it surrounded by a stone balustrade, three cubits high and of exquisite workmanship; in this at regular intervals stood slabs giving warning, some in Greek, others in Latin characters, of the law of purification, to wit that no foreigner was permitted to enter the holy place, for so the second enclosure of the temple was called."

Jewish War 5, v, 2 (cf. Jewish War 6, ii, 4; Jewish Antiq. 15. xi, 5; Philo Leg. 212)

Two inscriptions bearing this warning have been found, the fullest of which is OGI II 598 (not yet online at PHI: photo and translation). The more fragmentary inscription is restored on the basis of the more complete text.

A full discussion may be found in Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: A multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad I, 1 (edd. H.M. Cotton, et al.), no. 2 (pp. 42-45).

We may assume that it was not thought necessary to have Hebrew or Aramaic warning signs. Today's equivalent sign is in Hebrew, then English, then French (but not in Arabic).

LSJ and Catullus and Martial

Catull(us) is cited four times in LSJ: once as one of the earliest attestions of παλίμψεστος (with Cicero), once for a new meaning of (!) φάσηλος (with Horace), once for (etymologically correct) aspiration of Ionic ἀπηλιώτης (cf. Helios, sol), and once for explanatory purposes s.v. σκορπίος.

LSJ's 'Authors and Works' does not include 'Catull.' (p. xxi), but the Supplement (p. vii) adds 'Cat.', which remains uncorrected in the Revised Supplement (p. xii).

Mart(ial) seems to be cited more frequently (but the following list has not been reliably created): s.vv. ἀνακλινοπάλη ('Mart.14.201 (f.l. for ἐπι- )'), δρῶπαξ, ἐπιδειπνίς, ἐπικλινοπάλη, κορδύλη,  λῆμμα, λύγδος, παλίνουρος ('with play on pr. n. Palinurus [the individual in books 3, 5, and 6 of the Aeneid], Mart.3.78.2'), ῥῠτός (actually, for ῥύτιον),  σίγμα (cf. s.v. Σ), σοφός, σύνθεσις, and ψυχή.

'Mart.Cap.' and 'h.Mart.' account for most other instances of 'Mart.'.

The Gallus Trilingual

The monument displays the text in (from top to bottom and in decreasing 'font' size) in hieroglyphics, then Latin, and then Greek.

The most recent (?) edition of the text has a BMCR review.

σύνοδος synhodus

Aside from its comment 'of synods of the church, Cod.Just.1.1.7.12', LSJ' s σύνοδος (B) is of interest for its discussion (ad fin.) of transcriptions/transliterations of the Greek word into Latin, including synhod- in a bilingual inscription (2nd c. AD, Nîmes) and sunhod- in earlier Latin epigraphy (some from that of the city of Rome). See OLD s.v. (1896 ii).

Aquila in Genesis 37:3: Joseph's robe

Aquila's ἀστραγάλειος ('of the ἀστράγαλοι') is otherwise unknown. In the LXX, the article of clothing is ποικίλος, but when the same Hebrew phrase recurs at 2 Sam. (= 2 Kingdoms) 13:18, in reference to Tamar's royal robe, it is translated as χιτὼν καρπωτός 'a sleeved garment'. See Conybeare-Stock (1905: 109).

On the subject of clothing vocabulary in Aquila, note σπαθαρίσκος in Genesis 38:14 (s.v.l.) and σπαθαρικόν from Symmachus's version of Isaiah 3:23.

Parian marble and Macedonians in Esther

Old Greek 1:6: ἐπὶ στύλοις παρίνοις καὶ λιθίνοις ... 
ἐπὶ λιθοστρώτου σμαραγδίτου λίθου καὶ πιννίνου καὶ παρίνου λίθου.

Alpha: 'pillars of marble and other stones... on an emerald pavement and roses round about'.

Haman is ὁ Μακεδών in 8:12k and 9:24, but ὁ Βουγαῖος elsewhere (1:1r, 3:1, and 9:10). In 8:12o, Haman is accused of plotting to handover the Persian Empire to the Macedonians: διὰ γὰρ τῶν τρόπων τούτων ᾠήθη λαβὼν ἡμᾶς ἐρήμους τὴν τῶν Περσῶν ἐπικράτησιν εἰς τοὺς Μακεδόνας μετάξαι.

Cf. the Λακωνικόν in Isaiah 3:23.

Greek words in Latin texts: Quintilian

A list of Greek words (and uses) known primarily from Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria can be automatically generated, but needs refinement in person.

Of immediate interest is σαρδισμός, in VIII 3, 59: a mixture of dialects ... (from the mixed population of Sardis):

"There is also a fault known as Σαρδισμὸς, which consists in the indiscriminate use of several dialects, as, for instance, would result from mixing Doric, Ionic, and even Aeolic words with Attic. [60] A similar fault is found amongst ourselves, consisting in the indiscriminate mixture of grand words with mean, old with new, and poetic with colloquial, the result being a monstrous medley like that described by Horace in the opening portion of his Ars poetica,

"If a painter choose To place a man's head on a horse's neck,"

and, he proceeds to say, should add other limbs from different animals" (Loeb).

Greek words known exclusively or primarily from the Scriptores Historiae Augustae

LSJ has the sequence 'Hist.Aug. ...' -

As the only citation in the following entries (all in Latin script; variants and mss. spellings, etc. noted):

ὀξυπαιδερώτινος Hist.Aug.Aurelian.46<.4> [acc.pl. in the context: oxypederotinas with reflecting the monophongisation of the diphthong formerly written ]. 

πανδουρίζω, play the πανδοῦρα, Hist.Aug.Elag.32<.8>:  
actually pandurizavit (but, cf. πανδουριστής, οῦ, ὁ, one who plays it, Euph. Fr.Hist. 8, JRS 18.177 (Jerash)')

πενταφάρμακος Hist.Aug.Hel.5 [= Spart. Ael. Ver. 5<.4 and 5> Lewis and Short, s.v.: pentefarmacum]. tetrapharmacum also appears 2x in the context [terrafarmacu P^1 pentefarmacum P pentafarmacum Pet post pentefarmacum add. Σ ut alii ferunt & pentafarmacu P terrafarmacu P^1]

χρηστολόγος giving fair words, speaking plausibly, Hist.Aug.Pertinax 13.5 [christologum P (chestologon Epi. de Caes. 18, 4)].

As one of two citations for an entry: αὐθέψης Cic.Rosc.Amer.46.133, Hist.Aug.Elag.19<.3> [autepsas P mensas et capsas superscr. a. m.].
Russian samovar mirrors the structure of the word (illustrations), but, presumably, is not a calque.

Dyck comments on the Cicero passage, as follows: 
"An authepsas was a cooker containing its own heating element, the Romans, as often, having borrowed the name along with the object from the Greeks; our passage is the word's first and only attestation [we could add 'in either language']; cf. OLD [which does not extend its coverage beyond Apuleius] and TLL s.v.". He goes on to quote Seneca, Ep.78.23, where this kind of device is in view, but this noun is not used.

Neither the OCT nor the Teubner report any variation in the spelling of this word.

LSJ does not have Ros.Amer. in its Abbreviations list under Cic. Only works of rhetorical theory and philosophy are mentioned there, as well as the collections of letters (unsurprisingly from the point of view of code-switching and lexical borrowing). A full list of instances of 'Cic.' in LSJ is easily generated.

As a (unique) citation for a subsection: ἀγαθοδαίμων II Hist.Aug.Elag.28<.3>.

Relative clauses with resumptive pronouns ?

Gow-Page cite Anth.7.72 (Menander Comicus) on Call.epigr. VIII.3 (42 Pf., Anth.12.118).

Menander:
Χαῖρε, Νεοκλείδα, δίδυμον γένος, ὧν ὁ μὲν ὑμῶν 
   πατρίδα δουλοσύνας ῥύσαθ’, ὁ δ’ ἀφροσύνας.

Callimachus:
Ἄκρητος καὶ Ἔρως μ’ ἠνάγκασαν, ὧν ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν
   εἷλκεν, ὁ δ’ οὐκ εἴα τὴν προπέτειαν ἐᾶν.

'Cakes and buns and sausage rolls...'

... with apologies to the Ian Dury and The Blockheads and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

The Greek neuter compound ἀρτόκρεας, which Debrunner, Griechische Wortbildungslehre (1917) lists among his examples of copulative/dvandva compounds (pp. 40-1, 46), is cited by LSJ almost entirely from Latin sources (for IE dvandva compounds, cf. Latin duōdecim, Greek δώδεκα, Sanskrit dwādaçan, but not English twelve '‘two left or remaining over (ten)'):

'bread and meat, prob. = Lat. visceratio, IGRom.4.1348<.13> (Lydia), Pers.6.50, Gloss.; artocria CIL9.5309<.1>.'

J. R. Jenkinson translates Pers.6.50 as 'a sausage roll':
uae, nisi coniues. oleum artocreasque popello | largior. 

CIL 9.5309:

  

The Gloss. is by Philoxenus. IGRom.4.1348 is not in the PHI database.

IGRom/IGR 4.1348 (Cagnat, 1927):

Liddell poeta

IGL s.v. ἄξενος II (p. 84, R) cites a (pentameter) line from Ov(id):
Euxeinus qui nunc Axenus ille fuit.

This supports the point that the Axine was 'afterwards called the Euxine'

The closest passage to this in Ovid is Tristia IV.4.55-56:
frigida me cohibent Euxini litora Ponti:                  
     dictus ab antiquis Axenus ille fuit. 

The source of the first half of the pentameter remains unknown.

The juxtaposition of the Latin forms of the <ει> and <ε> variants is noteworthy.

Hieroglyphics and their Decipherment

Wikimedia Commons illustrates the representation of the name Ἀλέξανδρος in hieroglyphics in a cartouche (in accordance with the rebus principle on an acrophonic basis):

The Greek text of the Rosetta Stone is OGI 90 (an English translation thereof).
The Greek text of the Philae Obelisk is OGI 137, 138, 139.

The latest know hieroglyphic inscription (394 CE) is discussed here.

Graffito from Gazi

Costas Canakis discussed a number of graffiti from the Athenian district of Gazi at Language and the City in Berlin in August 2012. One item of note read:

ΤΟ GAY LIFESTYLE ΒΡΩΜΑΕΙ ΟΜΟΦΟΒΙΑ (which, when translated, is 'Gay lifestyle stinks of homophobia').

At the very least, a shift from Greek to Roman script is involved: 'Gay Lifestyle' has not been transliterated or transcribed. What kind of code-switch is this, if that is what it is?

The impression of Greek script

German Wings' in-flight magazine for September 2014 presents the name of a city in northern Greece as ΤΗΣSSΔLΟΝIKI.

This spelling is part transcription (Th- for Θ and -ki for -κη) and part transliteration (based somewhat on a purely graphic resemblance: Σ for <Ε> and Δ  for <Α>).

Distinctively (but unfamiliar) Greek characters have been avoided (Θ and Λ), but also (mis)employed (Σ and Δ), at the cost of an opportunity to employ them correctly (ΣΣ for SS).

Avoidance of the pan-European and hence unmarked <Ε> and may have been a factor.

The result is a word which is legible to the eye (provided that the delta is treated as an ), but marked as foreign, if not as Greek specifically.

The film posts for My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2001) similarly used <Σ> for <Ε>.