Alcaeus, the unjustly neglected Lesbian

The Lobel-Page edition of Alcaeus consists of 4,888 words, while that of Sappho consists of 3,459 words (these figures are from the TLG). That's the fact, give or take; the interpretation is less straightforward,* if any can or, indeed, should be made. It depends both on chance survival of what happened to be in circulation in small set of locations and on deliberate, but selective, preservation.

So, more of Alcaeus has come down to us from Antiquity, whether on papyrus or as extracts and fragments, even of only a single word, that suited the needs of grammarians and literary critics.

Yet, editions of the two 'Great Lesbians' usually put Sappho before her (allegedly older) contemporary and add 'et SAPPHUS vel ALCAEI FRAGMENTA' 'et SAPPHO et ALCAEUS'. There is, as far as I know, no translation of Alcaeus alone, while there are several of Sappho alone.

* What, for example, counts as a word? A fully preserved lexical item, for sure, but what about partially preserved words that can be reasonably supplemented and what about a single letter or letter trace as the sole residue of a word?

Both are mentioned by Herodotus (Alcaeus, briefly, at 5.95.1-2 and Sappho, and her family, at greater length).

Hyphenation in LSJ

John Chadwick wrote in the 'Case for Replacing LSJ' (BICS 11 (1994): 2):
"One of the worst features of the 9th edition was certainly not the decision of the editors at all, but of the publisher. Every user must curse many times a day the idea of saving a little space by grouping words in long paragraphs. It would matter less that each lemma does not appear at the same point in the column, if at least it were given in full in bold type. Alas, the lemma is often reduced to three letters, two or even one letter, which not even bold type can render easily visible to the searching eye. In a lecture given in Oxford in 1948 R. W. Chapman, the Secretary to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, under whom the project was launched, had the effrontery to claim credit for this astonishing lack of perceptivity. But this passage of his lecture was wisely omitted from the published text. What other damage he may have inflicted, I do not know."

This Chapman can also be found in the app.crit. to the OCT of Plato's Laws...


The run of words ὑπάλ-ειμμα, -ει-πτος, -ειπτρον, -ειπτρίς, -είφω, -ειψις (p. 1851) frames the problem neatly. Such hyphenation follows the formation of the words (ὑπ-, ἀλειπ-) nor their syllabification (ὑ-πα-λειμ-μα, etc.).

Such printing also obscures the accentuation in the ὑπάλ-, when followed by -ειπτρίς and -είφω, gives inexplicable, unnecessary, and impossible doubling of the accent on a single word (no enclitics are involved).

If that is possible, why should ὑπαλγέω, ὑπαλεαίνω, and ὑπαλεύομαι (all hyphenless) not be grouped under ὑπαλ- also, except on the criterion of a shared root and thus meaning? Cf. the ὑο- words which share a root, but have a range of meanings depending on the second element. Better still would be to divide at ὑπ-αλγέω, -αλεαίνω, -αλειμμα, etc.

The syllabification is a puzzling facet, since no less/other than H. Stuart Jones wrote 'Appendix V: Division of Greek Words', p. 75 in Horace Hart (M.A. Printer to the University of Oxford), Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, 19th edn. (5th for publication): London and Oxford, 1905.

Based on papyri of Bacchylides, Thucydides, and Hypereides, he gives three exceptions to the rule that a syllable ends in a vowel:
(1) the consonant is doubled: Συρακούσ-σας, πολ-λῷ,  'and so' Βάκ-χος, Σαπ-φώ, Ἀτ-θίς;
(2) the first consonant is a liquid or nasal (or, according to some, a <σ>): ἄμ-φακες, ἐγ-χέσπαλον, τέρ-πον, πάν-τες, ἄλ-σος; ἄν-θρωπος, ἐρ-χθέντος, ἀν-δρῶν; but βά-κτρον, κάτο-πτρον, ἐχ-θρός; θέλ-κτρον, Λαμ-πτραί.
(3) Compounds. 'For modern printing the preference must be to divide the compounds παρ-όντος, ἐφ-ῃρημένος, but ἀπέ-βη may stand as well as ἀπ-έβη.'

A different issue surfaces in αἰνό-δακρυς, ὁ, = foreg., IG12(7).115 (Amorgos) [2nd/1st c. BCE]. Note the absence of an indication of inflection (-υος cf. πολύ-δακρυς) and a date for the inscription. The foreg(oing) is αἰνο-γόνος child of praise, which is a very different meaning. Was there ever an entry for *αἰνο-δάκρυος with which 'foreg.' would have been appropriate? Cf., e.g., πολυ-δάκρυος, but note that there '= sq.' directs the reader to πολύ-δακρυς for the meaning.

Homerica: a conspectus of key forms

Ι) Data on the forms of the dative plural of ἔπος is not presented by LSJ s.v. (but some etymological comment is at the head of the entry, not at the foot, with the dialect forms: older Ϝέπος SIG9 (v. infr.), etc., εος, τό (Skt. vácas 'word', 'hymn', cf. εἶπον): ):

a) ἔπεσσι Od.19.214 (-ν); ἔπ- τε μειλίχοισι# Il.9.113, Od.9.258 (-ν), 363, and 376, and 19.415; cf. Hes.Op.186 χαλεποῖς βάζοντες ἔπ-#; also Pi.O.13.25.

b) ἔπεσιν Il.1.77.

c) ἐπέεσσιν# Il.1.223 (ἀταρτητοῖς ἐπ-), 304 (ἀντιβίοισι μαχεσσαμένω ἐπ-); cf. 6.325 and 337 (αἰσχροῖς ἐπ-#), without and then with -ν.

ΙΙ) The endings ᾱο and εω:
Il.21.84-86: μινυνθάδιον δέ με μήτηρ | γείνατο Λαοθόη, θυγάτηρ Ἄλτᾱο γέροντος, | Ἄλτεω, ὅς Λελέγεσσι φιλοπτολεμοισι ἀνάσσει, |

The original 'Aeolic' Ἄλτᾱο and the latest Ionic Ἄλτεω (a spondee by synizesis) a:-stem masculine genitive singular forms are found in adjacent lines. Sappho and Alcaeus would use Ἄλτᾱ. In this instance, line 86 could be omitted without damage to syntax or to sense.

III) Diectasis:
ὁράω (of which there are no uncontracted forms in Hom., e.g. *ὁράεις, cf. Il.21.108. cited below) - ὁρῶ Il.3.324 (also ὁρᾷς, ὁρᾷ, ὅρα, ὁρᾶν, ὁρῶν, ὁρῶμαι, ὁρᾶται, ὁρᾶσθαι, ὁρώμενος), ὁρόω Il.5.224 (ὁράᾳς Il.21.108, ὁράασθαι Od.20.317, ὁρόωνὁρόων Il.1.350, 3.325, Od.8.314, ὁρόωντες Il.24.633, Od.7.145, 9. 295, and 20.373, ὁρόωσα Od.19.514, 2pl. opt. ὁρόῳτε Il.4.347). Contrast Ionic ὁρέω Hdt.1.80 and the dialectal 3rd person plural ὁρεῦντι in Theocritus 9.36.

IV) The second person singular of 'be':   
ἐσσί Il.1.176, 280, 3.164, 172, etc.: Od.1.175, 297, etc.
εἶς (εἴς) Il.16.515, 24.407; of the 9 instances of this form, only 1 cannot be altered to ἐσσ(ί) because it is not pre-vocalic, namely Od.17.388: ἀλλ’ αἰεὶ χαλεπὸς περὶ πάντων εἰς μνηστήρων.
εἰς Il.16.538, 19.217, etc.: Od.1.170, 207, 4.371, 611, etc.
εἶ is, it seems, not found, nor ἐσί (citable from Cretan GDI 4959a).

-ίδᾱς in names from Mytilene, Lesbos, in the time of Sappho and/or Alcaeus

Ἀ̄γεσιλαίδᾱς, (Alc.130.19) a friend of the poet.
Ἀρχεανακτίδᾱς (Alc.112.24)
Ἀισιμίδᾱς (Alc.365)
Ἀντιμενίδᾱς (Alc.350), the poet's brother.
Δᾱμοανακτίδᾱς (Alc.296 (b) 1)
Κλεανακτίδᾱς (LGPN: "Alc. frr. 112, 23; 444; Sapph. fr. 98 (b), 7; Str. 617 (Κλεανακτίδαι (patr. adj.))"), Myrsilos.

Πενθιλήᾱν[ (gen.pl.) Sapph.71.3: Πενθιλειος.
Πενθιλίδας (acc.pl.) Arist.Pol.1311b27, Πενθιλιδῶν (gen.pl.), Plu. De sollertia animalium 984E3.

Πωλυανακτίδᾱς (Sapph.99.i.2 -δαις, 23 -δᾱν); cf. Πωλυάνακτις (Sapph.155 acc.sg. -ιδα)
Πωλύαναξ (1x) is in LGPN vol. I as follows: "Πωλυάναξ [m.] Mytilene vii/vi BC Sapph. 99, 2; 155 (Πωλυανακτιδα (acc. adj.))".

From phrase to compound adjective

ἀγκύλα τόξα Il.5.209+ : ἀγκυλό-τοξος Il.2.484+


θρόνα ποικίλα Il.22.441 : ποικιλό-θρονος Sapph.1.1.

Pindar has ἀγλαό-γυιος (N.7.4) and -δενδρος (O.9.20) and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter has -δωρος, while Homer has ἀγλαά both of γυῖα (Il.19.385) and of δῶρα (Il.1.213+) and Pindar has it of δένδρα (O.2.70). The Odyssey has ἀγλαά ἔργα, while Maximus (hexameter 68, section 5 'about marriage') has ἀγλαο-εργός 'ennobled by works' (LSJ s.v.).

For Pindar's Ἀγλαο-τρίαινα (Ο.1.40), cf. N.11.4 ἀγλαῷ σκά̄πτρῳ πέλας.

δημιουργός [δημιοεργός (Od., Hdt.), δημιοργός (Ion.), δᾱμιοργός (Dor., NWGr., Arc., Boeot.), δᾱμιωργός (Astypal.), δᾱμιεργός (Astypal., Nisyr.) name of an official.] "from *δημιο-ϝεργός, in turn from <*>δήμια ἔργα with verbal reinterpretation of the second member after the types ψυχο-πομπός; partly from -ϝοργός." (Beekes, s.v.).

ἀκρὴ πόλις Il.6.88, 257 : ἀκρό-πολις Od.8.494+

κύνες πόδας ἀργοὶ (ἕποντο|) Il.18.578 (cf. 18.283 πρίν μιν κύνες ἀργοὶ ἔδονται. |): Πόδ- and πόδ-αργος. See Meissner-Tribulato 2002: 297.

πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς Il.1.58+: ποδ-ώκης Il.2.860. (Contrast the order of elements in

ὠκῠ-πέδῑλος, ον, with swift sandals, swift-footed, Nonn.D.8.220).

οἰνο-βαρής Il.1.225: οἴνῳ βεβαρηότες Od.3.139, 19.122.

ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν (cf. Il.1.7) Ἀνάξ-ανδρος, Ἀναξ-ήνωρ, and Ἀναξ-ά̄νωρ.

From compound to personal name: 
λᾱο-σσόος Hom.+: a Boeotian Λαϝό-σοϝος CEG I 444. 

Ships on both sides of the line

Homer has νηῦς and νηυσί (and νήεσσι; Aeolic νά̄εσσι), but also names in ναυ- and ναυσι-. There is also ναῦφι as a plural in various functions).

Od.8.111-120:
ὦρτο μὲν Ἀκρόνεώς τε καὶ Ὠκύαλος καὶ Ἐλατρεὺς
Ναυτεύς τε Πρυμνεύς τε καὶ Ἀγχίαλος καὶ Ἐρετμεὺς
Ποντεύς τε Πρῳρεύς τε, Θόων Ἀναβησίνεώς τε
Ἀμφίαλός θ’, υἱὸς Πολυνήου Τεκτονίδαο·
ἂν δὲ καὶ Εὐρύαλος, βροτολοιγῷ ἶσος Ἄρηϊ,
Ναυβολίδης, ὃς ἄριστος ἔην εἶδός τε δέμας τε
πάντων Φαιήκων μετ’ ἀμύμονα Λαοδάμαντα.
ἂν δ’ ἔσταν τρεῖς παῖδες ἀμύμονος Ἀλκινόοιο,
Λαοδάμας θ’ Ἅλιός τε καὶ ἀντίθεος Κλυτόνηος.
οἱ δ’ ἦ τοι πρῶτον μὲν ἐπειρήσαντο πόδεσσι·

Note -νηος and -νεως. There is also Ναυσίθοος (Od.6.7, 7.56, 7.62-63, and 8.565) and of course Ναυσικάα (Od.6.17, etc., 7.12, 8.457, and 8.464).

The key points are (L.R. Palmer, GL, p. 277):
(1) ναῦς and ναυσί show regular 'Osthoff' shortening (cf. Latin nāv-i-s for the long vowel), but νῆα, νηός, νηί, etc., of course, do not.
(2) νηῦς and νηυσί have eta by analogy with the rest of the paradigm. That analogy was not applied to the 'ship' personal names: 
(3) shortening in hiatus produces νέα, νεός (monosyllabic in Od.9.283), etc.

Lesbian inscriptions

IG XII Supp. 139 (Miletos, Ionia): εἰς στάλαν λίθω λευ|κῶ καὶ ὀνθέμεναι

Buck, no. 28: εἰς στάλαν λεύκω λίθω ἀναθέμεναι

LSJ and Aeolica

S.v. πτόλις LSJ notes 'Ep., ... (not Aeol., but an Epicism in Sapph.Supp.20a.12)' [= Sapph.44.12(13)]', an acknowledgment that an instance of a phenomenon in an Aeolic text does not make that phenomenon Aeolic, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. 

Of course, Sapph.44, the wedding of Hector and Andromache, deals with characters known from epic and is one of the so-called 'abnormal' poems of Sappho, and one regarded as inauthentic (Page, S&A, pp. 65-69, but see Hooker, pp. 39-55)

In relation to p. 69 and Hooker, pp. 87-88, remember that LSJ s.v. πορφύρεος notes 'Aeol. πορφ-ύριος Sapph.64 [= 54], Alc.Supp.11.2 (πόρφυρον ἄνθος is corrupt in Sapph.94 [= 105(c)], and πορφυρ[α] as neut. pl. (–⏑–) is found in Sapph.Supp.20a.9 [= 44.9(10)]); πορφ-ύριος also in IG5(1).1390.179 (Andania, i B.C.):'.

Sapphica

55.4-5:
                              ἀλλ’ ἀφάνης κἀν Ἀίδα δόμωι

φοιτάσηις πεδ’ ἀμαύρων νεκύων ἐκπεποταμένα. 

Cf. Il.5.845, on which Leaf and Bayfield note:

"The Tarnkappe or Nebelkappe of northern mythology, not elsewhere mentioned in Homer. It is familiar, however, from the legend of Perseus, and alluded to in Scutum Her. 227, Ar. Ach. 390 and Plato, Rep. X. 612 B. 

It is a piece of the oldest folk-lore. The name here evidently preserves something of its original sense, the Invisible (Ἀϝίδης).
It is of course not necessary to suppose that the poet conceives Athene as literally putting on a cap; he iobly employs the traditional-almost proverbial-way of saying that she makes herself invisible to Ares."

A fifth-century BCE grave stele from Thessaly (Pelasgiotis) shows the early form of the theonym, with its digamma.

81.4 Δί̆κᾰ: The LGPN knows a few other bearers of the name Δίκα, all of whom are 1st c. BC/AD, but only one Δίκη. Cf. 82a Μνᾱσιδίκᾱ.

The Dual
Students new to Sappho and Alcaeus may be puzzled by the frequent nominal forms that end in -ω. Snaps to those who ask whether these forms are duals. The dual number is very rare in Sappho and Alcaeus. In short, any such ending is much more likely to correspond to the Attic-Ionic genitive singular -ου.

That end in -ω: none for sure (unlikely in Alc.135).
Alc.43 begins νῶ μέν, which might be either νῶι the dual first person pronoun (Wilamowitz) or a genitive singular of νόος 'in fancy (would...)' (Lobel).

That end in -οιν: ἄμφοιν (Alc.S262.20/298.20), which cannot help but be a dual (cf. ambo, duo, but also ἀμφοτερ- Sapph.148.2, Alc.208a col. ii line 5, incert. 12 obelized)

That end in -αιν: none for sure (in Alc.152.10 and Sapph.23.12, 59.3, and 87(2).8 the context is too damaged).

There are 587 instances of words (or parts of words) that end in -ε, but no secure dual forms (e.g. Alc.301.3).

Alc.143 col. ii, line 6 is one such unlikely possibility: πώγωνε 'a pair of beards'.
]..[ / ]δ̣αμασ.[ / ]λάοις λυ.[ / ⸏]τ̣οὶς οὐκ[ / (5) ἦ μάλ’ ἄξ.[ / πώγωνε [ / φοίταν δ̣ῆ.[ / ⸏περιστρ̣ό̣φιδ’.[ / καππεπάδμ[ / (10) θ̣έρμαν σποδ[ / φοίταις ὀν π[ / |θ| μ̣ά̣σλ̣ητ[ / γ̣[ /. . .

Alc.S262.20/298.20 (better, I think, line 21, given the four-line stanzas) is of particular interest: χέρρεσ]σι δ’ ἄμφοιν, which might be evidence for compensation for the elimination of the dual through the use of ἄμφω. Cf. IThesp.38 (= Buck, no 39) ϝαγάνω δύο (line 19) and ἐν Κρείσυι λέβετε δύο ∶ ὀ ∶ βελίσκω- /ν δαρχμαὼ δύο (lines 27-28); δύο στατῆρσι Hdt.1.54.1 and δύο στατέρανς on the Gortyn Lawcode.

Hermippos Comikos and catalogues of flowers

Fragment 82 Kock concerns various wines:

Μενδαῖον, τοῦ μὲν καὶ ἐνουροῦσιν θεοὶ αὐτοὶ
στρώμασιν ἐν μαλακοῖς. Μάγνητα δὲ μειλιχόδωρον
καὶ Θάσιον, τῷ δὴ μήλων ἐπιδέδρομεν ὀδμή,
ταῦτον ἐγὼ κρίνω πολὺ πάντων εἶναι ἄριστον
τῶν ἄλλων οἴνων, μετ’ ἀμύμονα Χῖον ἄλυπον.   
ἔστι δέ τις οἶνος, τὸν δὴ σαπρίαν καλέουσιν,
οὗ καὶ ἀπὸ στόματος στάμνων ὑπανοιγομενάων
ὄζει ἴων, ὄζει δὲ ῥόδων, ὄζει δ’ ὑακίνθου.
ὀσμὴ θεσπεσίη κατὰ πᾶν δ’ ἔχει ὑψερεφὲς δῶ.
ἀμβροσία καὶ νέκταρ ὁμοῦ τοῦτ’ ἐστὶ τὸ νέκταρ.
τούτου χρὴ παρέχειν πίνειν ἐν δαιτὶ θαλείῃ
τοῖσιν ἐμοῖσι φίλοις, τοῖς δ’ ἐχθροῖς ἐκ Πεπαρήθου.

For other flower catalogues, see: GVI 1409, IG XIV 607 e.1-10 (Hadrianic(?), a multipart bilingual), Il.14.346-351, Cypria fr. 4, Sapph.94.12-17, 96.12-14, hHom.2.6-8, 2.425-8, 19.23-26, Theoc.1.132-4, and Mosch.2.64-66.

Doricha

Doricha, the love interest of Sappho's brother Charaxos, appears twice in LGPN, once on Mytilene, once in Thrace.

Hdt. II 135:
Οὕτω καὶ Αἴσωπος Ἰάδμονος ἐγένετο. Ῥοδῶπις δὲ ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἀπίκετο Ξάνθεω τοῦ Σαμίου κομίσαντός [μιν], ἀπικομένη δὲ κατ’ ἐργασίην ἐλύθη χρημάτων μεγάλων ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς Μυτιληναίου Χαράξου τοῦ Σκαμανδρωνύμου παιδός, ἀδελφεοῦ δὲ Σαπφοῦς τῆς μουσοποιοῦ. Οὕτω δὴ ἡ Ῥοδῶπις ἐλευθερώθη καὶ κατέμεινέ τε ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ κάρτα ἐπαφρόδιτος γενομένη μεγάλα ἐκτήσατο χρήματα ὡς ἅλις εἶναι Ῥοδώπι, ἀτὰρ οὐκ ὥς γε ἐς πυραμίδα τοιαύτην ἐξικέσθαι. Τῆς γὰρ τὴν δεκάτην τῶν χρημάτων ἰδέσθαι ἔστι ἔτι καὶ ἐς τόδε παντὶ τῷ βουλομένῳ, οὐδὲν δεῖ μεγάλα οἱ χρήματα ἀναθεῖναι. Ἐπεθύμησε γὰρ Ῥοδῶπις μνημήιον ἑωυτῆς ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι καταλιπέσθαι, ποίημα ποιησαμένη τοῦτο τὸ μὴ τυγχάνοι ἄλλῳ ἐξευρημένον καὶ ἀνακείμενον ἐν ἱρῷ, τοῦτο <δ’> ἀναθεῖναι ἐς Δελφοὺς μνημόσυνον ἑωυτῆς. Τῆς ὦν δεκάτης τῶν χρημάτων ποιησαμένη ὀβελοὺς βουπόρους πολλοὺς σιδηρέους, ὅσον ἐνεχώρεε ἡ δεκάτη οἱ, ἀπέπεμπε ἐς Δελφούς· οἳ καὶ νῦν ἔτι συννενέαται ὄπισθε μὲν τοῦ βωμοῦ τὸν Χῖοι ἀνέθεσαν, ἀντίον δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῦ νηοῦ. Φιλέουσι δέ κως ἐν τῇ Ναυκράτι ἐπαφρόδιτοι γίνεσθαι αἱ ἑταῖραι. Τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ αὕτη, τῆς πέρι λέγεται ὅδε ὁ λόγος, οὕτω δή τι κλεινὴ ἐγένετο ὡς καὶ οἱ πάντες Ἕλληνες Ῥοδώπιος τὸ οὔνομα ἐξέμαθον, τοῦτο δὲ ὕστερον ταύτης <ἑτέρη> τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Ἀρχιδίκη ἀοίδιμος ἀνὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐγένετο, ἧσσον δὲ τῆς προτέρης περιλεσχήνευτος. Χάραξος δὲ ὡς λυσάμενος Ῥοδῶπιν ἀπενόστησε ἐς Μυτιλήνην, ἐν μέλεϊ Σαπφὼ πολλὰ κατεκερτόμησέ μιν. Ῥοδώπιος μέν νυν πέρι πέπαυμαι.

περιλεσχήνευτος is 'talked of in every club (λέσχη), matter of common talk' in LSJ s.v.

See also Gow-Page, Hellenistic Epigrams, no. 17 (Poseidippos) [= no. 89 in Peter Jay's Greek Anthology Penguin ]:
Doricha, your soft bones are
Asleep, your shawl of hair has
Breathed its perfume out, so too
The robe that wrapped Charaxus
Skin to skin with you, at dawn,
When, pressed together, you clinked
Cups of wine. But still it lasts
Upon the page: Sappho's ode
Which speaks your name. Naucratis
Will recall you now so long as
The sea-going ships shall come,
Finding their way to the Nile.   (-- Edward Lucie Smith)


Doris is the more common feminine name from this root.

Some Greek compounds

γλυκύ-πικρος (Sapph.130)
γύν-ανδρος (S.fr.+) and ἀνδρό-γυνος (Hdt. Pl.+) and γυναικ-άνηρ (Epicharmos)

προβατοκτηνο-τρόφος 'keeping sheep and cattle' (LSJ, s.v.: OGI 655, papyri)  implies *προβατό-κτηνος 'with or of sheep and cattle'.

ἱππό-ταυρος horse-bull LSJ, Heliodoros, Aithiopika X 29:
καὶ τὸν Θεαγένην λαμπρῶς ἐκθειάζειν ξένην τινὰ ταύτην ἱπποταύρου ξυνωρίδα
ζευξάμενον.

κλαυσί-γελως smiles mingled with tears LSJ, X.Hell. VII 2.9:
πάντας δὲ τοὺς παρόντας τότε γε τῷ ὄντι κλαυσίγελως εἶχεν.
(?) cf. Sall.Cat.61.9: ita varie per omnem exercitum laetitia, maeror, luctus atque gaudia agitabantur.

ἀμιτρο-χίτωνες in LSJ '... , οἱ, wearing no μίτρη (q.v.) with the χιτών, epith. of Lycian warriors, Il.16.419 ...'.

λευκο-έρυθρος (Arist.)
-μέλᾱς grey (LSJ): a combination or mixture of white and black rather than of animals like pandas (though, cf. Ailuropoda melano-leuca black and white cat-footed one) and of things like chess boards that are white and black.

χλωρο- (Galen) [also μελάγ- and μελανό- χλωρος], ὠχρό- (Dioscorides Ped.)

Cf. Sanskrit nīla-lohitá dark blue and red = dark red (A.A. MacDonell, A Vedic Grammar for Students, § 186 B 1 'The adjectives that designate colours, their combination expressing a mixture of the two').

Inherited and secondary long alpha

The following neatly illustrate the difference between the inherited long vowel and the result of consonant simplification.

πεδὰ πάνσας σπουδᾶς καὶ φιλοτιμίας Teos 7.7-8 (200 BCE) [cf. μετὰ πάνσας σπουδᾶς καὶ φιλοτιμίας Teos 51.5-6 (200 BCE)].

μετὰ παίσας εὐκοσμίας and μετὰ παίσας εὐνοίας IG XII Suppl. 139.75 and 97 (before 167 BCE).

μετὰ πά̄σης σπουδῆς καὶ φιλοτιμίᾱς IG II³ 1170.15-16 (208/7 ΒCE).

'Aeolic' sometimes also shows <αι> for original <ᾱ>, but this must be hypercorrect. See Hooker (1977: 31-34) for a discussion of forms such as Βορίαις (Alc. 38.13), ἐπέραισε (Alc. 38a.8), ἐπτόαισε (Sapph. 22.14).

'Aeolic', or Mytilenian Lesbian, αἰμι- for ἡμι- (-θεος, -ονος is an unrelated phenomenon, but has epigraphic corroboration [gen.pl. of the adj. in lines 9 and 11]). See Buck, The Greek Dialects, section 17 and no. 25, and Schwyzer, GG I 185 Zusatz 3.
Sappho also has αἰμιτύβιον (119), a form not listed separately by LSJ s.v. ἡμιτύβιον.

The name 'Sappho'

LSJ s.v. Σαπφώ cites the form Ψάπφω from a coin from Mytilene and the form Σάφφω (for which there is a cross-reference) from a coin from Eresos. The former spelling was used by Sappho herself (only as Ψάπφ(οι), the vocative: 1.20 [quoting Aphrodite], 65.5, 94.5 [quoting an unnamed love-interest], 133.2) and the latter is attested on inscriptions (as Σαφφώ, without the recessive accent of Lesbian), but Alcaeus (frag. 384), Herodotus (2.135), Plato (Phaedrus 235c), Aristotle (Rhet.1398b), etc. use Σαπφώ (also found on inscriptions: V1-43193 is the Sappho). Initial ψ- for σ- is not a feature of Lesbian.

M.L. West, 'Burning Sappho', Maia 20 (1970) 307-330 at 310 (= Hellenica, volume II: Lyric and Drama, 31), note 5, comments as follows on Sapph.1.20:

"I have preferred Σάπφ', persuaded by G. Zuntz (Mus. Helv. 8 (1951), 16-22) that that Ψ was an early misinterpretation of a sibilant ɯ or m [these are not the characters as they appear in West's article, but the nearest approximates that I can find] (ṣ, tsade) used by Sappho in spelling her own (Asiatic) name. The argument does not fall if Lesbos had the ψ sign with the same value as the Ionian alphabets (L.H. Jeffery, The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece (Oxford 1961), 361).-- I print Meillet's elegant ἀδίκησι to advertise it, but ἀδικήει may be right.".

The coin from Mytilene has been discussed online by the British Museum. Cf. the comment in Pollux IX 84 (test. 11 Campbell) on such coins and see Richter, Portraits of the Greeks, i: 70-72, for images and full ancient references and modern(ish) bibliography.

Of particular interest is the occurrence of the name on IG XI (2) 199 B.18: ἄλλον δακτύλιον ἔχοντα ἀνθράκιον Σαφφοῦς,... (V1-84351 in LGPN).

Also of particular interest is the single instance of the compound name Σαπφόδωρος, as a nickname (ὁ καὶ Σ.), in an inscription of the Roman period from Lycia.

Other celebrities feature on coins, especially in the Roman period.

From a different starting point, note that Δικάπφω (inscription) is the only other name reported by LGPN that ends in -απφω. There is one instance of Κορίφφω.

Eumelos Korinthios

Pausanias (Description of Greece, IV.33.2) quotes two (almost complete) hexameters from Eumelos, a poet of the seventh or sixth century BC.

τῷ γὰρ Ἰθωμάτᾳ καταθύμιος ἔπλετο μοῖσα
ἁ καθαρὰ<ν κιθάραν> καὶ ἐλεύθερα σάμβαλ’ ἔχοισα.


The underlined parts are certainly not Ionic, while those in bold either are (-ons- > -ois-) or could be Aeolic (Hooker 1977: 61 and 96, n. 116). In fact, ἔχοισα is an alteration of the transmitted form, ἔχουσα, whose warrant comes soley from μοῖσα (or Μοῖσα).

Sapph.110a.2 has σάμβαλον for σάνδαλον, but so too do Call.fr.631 and perhaps fr.297.4 and 8, Herodas 7.60, and Diotimos, Anth.6.267.

Beekes cites the 'coriander' pair of  κορίανδον and κορίαμβλον (from a glossary and from Hesychios respectively), alongside κορίαννον the form known from literature.

The lexicographers gloss σάμβαλα either with σανδάλια (with the diminutive, not with σάνδαλα !) or with ὑποδήματα. They make no comment about dialectal affiliations.

The other Gallus fragment and assessments of authors

Gallus, Epigrammata 1 (dactylic pentameter):
(Vib.Sec. 77) Hypanis Scythiae, qui ut ait Gallus
uno tellures dividit amne duas(.)
Asiam enim ab Europa separat.

Cicero, Orator 62:
Quamquam enim et philosophi quidam ornate locuti sunt—si quidem et Theophrastus a divinitate loquendi nomen invenit et Aristoteles Isocratem ipsum lacessivit et Xenophontis voce Musas quasi locutas ferunt et longe omnium quicumque scripserunt aut locuti sunt exstitit et suavitate et gravitate princeps Plato—, tamen horum oratio neque nervos neque aculeos oratorios ac forensis habet.
Certain philosophers, to be sure, had an ornate style,--for example Theophrastus received his name from his divinely beautiful language, and Aristotle challenged even Isocrates, and the Muses were said to speak with the voice of Xenophon, and Plato was, in dignity and grace easily the first of all writers or speakers--yet their style lacks the vigour and sting necessary for oratorical efforts in public life. (Loeb)

Diogenes Laertius V.38 reports that Theophrastus was renamed by Aristotle from Tyrtamus (the sole bearer of this name in LGPN).

Statius, Silvae V.3.146-161:
Hinc tibi vota patrum credi generosaque pubes
te monitore regi, mores et facta priorum
discere, quis casus Troiae, quam tardus Vlixes,
quantus equum pugnasque virum decurrere versu
Maeonides quantumque pios ditarit agrestes       150
Ascraeus Siculusque senex, qua lege recurrat
Pindaricae vox flexa lyrae volucrumque precator
Ibycus et tetricis Alcman cantatus Amyclis
Stesichorusque ferox saltusque ingressa viriles
non formidata temeraria Chalcide Sappho,          155
quosque alios dignata chelys. tu pandere doctus
carmina Battiadae latebrasque Lycophronis atri
Sophronaque implicitum tenuisque arcana Corinnae.
sed quid parva loquor? tu par assuetus Homero
ferre iugum senosque pedes aequare solutis          160
versibus et numquam passu breviore relinqui.

Translations: Martial, Sappho, Ovid

Some translations of one of my favourite pieces of Latin poetry have been blogged and then blogged further.

While we are on the subject of translations, there is Martin West's rendition of the "new" Sappho, The Times Stephen Spender Prize winner for 2008 for Ovid's Amores 1.1, and Christopher Marlowe's version of Ovid's Amores 1.5.