Gerunds and Gerundives in the Wild

Aside from the state motto of New Mexico, crescit eundo, there is the motto of Millfield School in Somerset: molire molendo '(Loosely translated as "to succeed by grinding")'. 'Loosely', of course, because since molior is a deponent verb, molire is a second-person singular indicative or, better for this context, an imperative. The infinitive, as implied by the loose translation, is moliri.

As for the gerundive, and real Latin, there is the formula found in Pompeian electoral dipinti:

aed(ilem/iles) [or duovirum] v(iis) a(edibus) sacr(is) p(ublicis) procurandis oro vos faciatis.
See, for examples, I 1. nos. 11 and 18 in R. Wallace's An Introduction to Wall Inscriptions from Pompeii and Herculaneum (Wauconda, Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2005).

Notes on inscriptions: SIG 1

This is not the first of a series of posts working through the Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, as fruitful as that would be. This is a convenient reference for the set of inscriptions that are online as SEG XVI 863 (= Buck[3] 104; [2] gives the text(s) in full | Schwyzer 301 | LSAG 415 n. 48 | SB VIII 10018).

F. Coulmas uses this text as an example in Writing Systems (Cambridge, 2003: 129). The caption ('Ionian Greek inscription'), transcription (e.g. ἐλθόυτος and ἀλογγόσο̄ς),  accentuation (e.g. ἢλθον) and translation ('The foreigners guided... and the Egyptians Amasis') are all sadly faulty.

The non-Ionic nature of the main inscription is evident from several  features:
Ἐλεφαντίναν, Ψαμά̄τιχō τοὶ, and ἁμὲ. Note also πρᾶτον in the mark of Anaxanor.

Anne Jeffery's notes (search for 'Abou Simbel') are very informative about the variety of texts that compose this single 'inscription'.

LSJ cites this inscription in at least six entries. A search for 'Abu Simbel' returns ten instances.

LSJ s.v. ἵημι: 'Dor. ἀν-ίη SIG 1 (Abu Simbel, vi B.C.);' [my bold]
s.v. ἀνίημι: 'Ion. 3sg. ἀνίη SIG 1 (Abu Simbel, vi B. C.' (sic) [my bold]
This use of eta is also seen in ἦλθον and ἦχε. LSJ relates the latter to ἄγω, but then the eta would have to be an Ionic feature.

(On the basis of the drawing in Coulmas), the name Ψαμμά̄τιχος (Ψαμμήτιχος in Hdt.2.2.1, etc.) shows the (familiar) Light Blue use of <Ψ> for p+s and for /k^h/, not the Red use of these characters for /k^h/ and k+s respectively.

LSJ s.v. Ψ notes, 'not used in the Attic alphabet: in the Western Gr. alphabets it represents the sound χ (kh): with the value ps it is found in SIG1 (Nubia, vi B. C.),...'.

The key point in understanding these spellings is that (this) Rhodian script, like (some) Cretan, used eta for the original long e and for the result of the first wave of compensatory lengthening (e.g. ἦμι 'I am'), in contrast to other non-Ionic scripts which used <Ε>. The Cup of Nestor (line drawing) exemplifies for all three vowels:  
ΝΕΣΤΟΡΟΣ, ΠΟΤΕΡΙΟΝ (ποτήριον), and KENON (κεῖνον, κῆνον).
See Buck § 4.6 for eta in use to represent a vowel outside Ionic.

The mark of Telephos of Ialysos, one of the Rhodians illustrates this: Τήλεφός μ’ ἔγραφε ℎο Ἰᾱλύσιο. The toponym on which the ethnic adjective is based appears in Homer in its Ionic form, Ἰήλυσος (Il.2.654: Λίνδον | Ἰηλυσόν τε || καὶ ἀργινόεντα Κάμειρον.).

Note also the name Ἀναχσάνορ (unless Ἀναξσάνορ: SEG XXIX 1669) and his mark ℎο Ἰᾱλύσιος ℎόκα ('Dor.' for ὅτε) βασιλ|εὺς ἤλασε τὸν στρατὸν τὸ πρᾶτον.

The adverb υἷς 'as far as' is only in this inscription (according to PHI Greek Inscriptions): Cf. Buck § 132.4 'Rhod. ... (no. 104.3)'.

κατύπερθε (apparently only here in epigraphic texts) shows psilosis and is called 'Ion.' in LSJ. Indeed, it is in Ionic (50x Hdt., 1x Arrian's Indika), but may not be unique to Ionic. We must remember that Rhodian has ἰαρός and ἰερός with a smooth breaking (Buck §§ 58.b 261.8: ἐπ᾿ ἰερέως 'of NN' appears as a dating formula), which suggests some degree of psilosis.

Pompeian epigrams in Suetonius

Suet.Dom.14.2 quotes sparsi libelli cum his versibus, for which the Loeb cites CIL IV 3407.6 (for the correction of ΚΑΙ to κἄν). More accessible versions of this elegiac couplet are: Anth. IX 75, SEG XV 602, 3, and 821f in Diehl's 1930 edn. of Pompeianische Wandinschriften und Verwandtes.

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?

Elephantonym: Ajax

ὅσον δὲ ἵππου Νισαίου μείζων ὁ Λιβυκὸς ἐλέφας, τοσοῦτον τῶν ἐκ Λιβύης οἱ Ἰνδοὶ μείζους.

περὶ δὲ ἡλικίας τοῦ ζῴου καὶ ὡς μακροβιώτατοι,εἴρηται μὲν καὶ ἑτέροις, ἐντυχεῖν δὲ καὶ οὗτοί φασιν ἐλέφαντι περὶ Τάξιλα μεγίστην τῶν ἐν Ἰνδοῖς πόλιν, ὃν μυρίζειν τε οἱ ἐπιχώριοι καὶ ταινιοῦν· εἶναι γὰρ δὴ τῶν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ὑπὲρ Πώρου μεμαχημένων εἷς οὗτος, ὅν, ἐπειδὴ προθύμως ἐμεμάχητο, ἀνῆκεν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος τῷ Ἡλίῳ. εἶναι δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ χρυσοῦ ἕλικας περὶ τοῖς εἴτ’ ὀδοῦσιν εἴτε κέρασι καὶ γράμματα ἐπ’ αὐτῶν Ἑλληνικὰ λέγοντα

ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ. [IEOG 400]

 ὄνομα γὰρ τοῦτο τῷ ἐλέφαντι ἔθετο μεγάλου ἀξιώσας μέγαν. 
ξυνεβάλοντο δὲ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι πεντήκοντα εἶναι καὶ τριακόσια ἔτη μετὰ τὴν μάχην οὔπω λέγοντες καὶ ὁπόσα γεγονὼς ἐμάχετο.

The Indian elephants are bigger than those from Libya by the same magnitude as the 'Libyc' are bigger than a Nisaean horse. As for the age of the animal and its extreme longevity, there has been discussion by others, but these men say that they encountered in Taxila, the largest city in India, an elephant which the natives perfumed and bedecked with ribbons. This indeed was one of these that had fought on the side of Porus against Alexander, and because it had fought valiantly Alexander dedicated it to Helios. It had gold bangles on its teeth or tusks, and on these were Greek letters saying:

Alexander, the son of Zeus, Ajax, to Helios.

For 'Ajax' was the name he bestowed on the elephant, thinking that a great creature deserved a great name. The natives reckoned that the battle had occurred three hundred and fifty years before [326 BCE], but did not say how old the animal was when it fought.
Flavius Philostratos, Life of Apollonios, 2.12.1-2. 

Observations:

• It is rare for mythological names to be bestowed on animals.
• We are told the reason for the choice of name.
• Ajax, son of Telamon, is known for his defensive role (ἔρκος Ἀχαίων, e.g. Il.6.5),  just as Porus' elephants carried armoured towers (2.12.1; cf. Q. Curtius Rufus 9.2: modo quis beluas efferentes moenium speciem, quis Hydaspem amnem, quis cetera auditu maiora quam vero sustinere posse credebat?).
• To my knowledge, this is the first example of an animal bearing an alphabetic indicator of its own name. Ivory tusks provided a unique opportunity for such inscriptions.

Ajax the elephant is mentioned again on the tour of Taxila.

ἱερὸν δὲ ἰδεῖν Ἡλίου φασίν, ᾧ ἀνεῖτο Αἴας ἐλέφας, καὶ ἀγάλματα Ἀλεξάνδρου χρυσᾶ καὶ Πώρου ἕτερα, χαλκοῦ δ’ ἦν ταῦτα μέλανος.

They say that they saw a shrine of Helios, to whom Ajax the elephant had been dedicated along with golden statues of Alexander and others of Porus - but these were of black bronze.

Flavius Philostratos, Life of Apollonios, 2.24

**

Plurals of personal names: 2.33 (10,000 Achilleses and 30,000 Ajaxes would be insufficient) and 3.19 (men like Ajax and Nireus).