RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 A New Lexicon of Classical Greek R. Renehan L EXICOGRAPHER: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words. So pronounced the noblest English lexicographer in a familiar definition. Already in the Preface to his great Dictionary of the English Language Johnson had begun by describing the lexicographer as a "slave" and a "humble drudge." 1 Yes, and Epimenides the Cretan said that Cretans were always liars. Dr Johnson's self-mocking gibe has in the event, by an awful irony, turned out to be anything but harmless; in the minds of many, even, or especially, among the ranks of professional scholars, lexicography and drudgery have come to be inexorably associated as barren bedfellows. Modern lexicogra­ phers have not helped matters. Webster's International Dictionary de­ fines lexicographer as "an author or compiler of a dictionary," a description that will affect the reader, in accordance with the particu­ lar crasis of his constitution, as forbidding or flat or both; the same dictionary proceeds to give one, only one, illustration of the usage: "a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detail­ ing the signification of words-Samuel Johnson." Housman, who knew better, 2 and who made major contributions to Latin lexicogra- I What Johnson understood by the word 'drudge' he makes perfectly clear in his Dictionary, s. v.: "0 R U DG E: One employed in mean labour; a slave; one doomed to servile occupation." 2 In fact Housman had an affectionate admiration for Dr Johnson, who was a signifi­ cant influence on him, as I hope to demonstrate in a forthcoming paper in HSCP. To give one example relevant to the matter at hand, it is well known that Housman tried to be scrupulously accurate in attributing conjectures to their first proposers ("my superstitious practice of acknowledging obligations"), and often expressed contempt for the carelessness of certain editors in this regard. I quote from the Preface to Manilius2 V xxxiii: "'Operam maximam eamque satis fastidiosam pos~i in primo emendationis cui usque auctore investigando'. I am one of the few who can echo these words of Lachmann's: most editors have souls above such things, and some of them so much prefer error to knowledge that even when we patient drudges [emphasis mine] have ascertained the facts for them they continue to disseminate misinformation." I have not the slightest doubt but that Housman's 'patient drudges' derives from Johnson's harmless and humble drudge. If that assertion seem rather too confident, let the reader recall Johnson's own editorial practice as set forth in the Preface to his Shakespeare, a work which Housman certainly knew and elsewhere imitates: "Whatever I have taken from [my predecessors] it was my intention to refer to its original authour, and it is certain, that what I have not given to another, I believed when I wrote it to be my 5 RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 6 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK phy, felt such self-satisfaction in some witty taunts against the The­ saurus Linguae Latinae which he introduced into his Cambridge inau­ gural lecture that he could not resist the temptation to display them to his fellows a second time in his edition of luvenal: "Here we find illustrated a theme on which historians and economists have often dwelt, the disadvantage of employing slave-labour ... the chain-gangs working at the dictionary in the ergastulum at Munich: theirs not to reason why ... This is the felicity of the house of bondage . . . " The passage is widely known, and is prominently displayed, so I am told, at· the headquarters of the TLL in Germany. Less widely known is the fact that Classical Quarterly refused to print Housman's own article Praefanda, a lexical study of Latin erotic terms, even though the editor had accepted it and it had already been set up in type. The paper found a home in a German journal, Hermes. It would be an easy matter to draw up an imposing list of great classical scholars who did not feel it beneath them to undertake serious lexicographical research. According to Wilamowitz, Mommsen was responsible for the inception of the TLL. Wilamowitz's own enormous corpus is besprinkled passim with lexical observations, both acute and detailed. Fraenkel's study of dies, to mention but one contribution of his, is now classic. Bruno Snell founded the Lexikon des frilhgriechischen Epos. Yet the myth that lexicography is drudgery still persists. Presum­ ably scholars in Great Britain are better informed, but in this country the name D' Arcy Thompson more often than not conjures up an ig­ norant picture of an eccentric Scot, doubtless of independent means and corresponding leisure, who amused himself with a harmless hob­ by, the compilation of a quaint dictionary of Greek fishes and a companion volume devoted to Greek birds. The Encyclopaedia Britan­ nica (21 [I971] 1068) tells a different tale: "Thompson, Sir D' Arcy Wentworth (1860-1948), Scottish biologist whose classic work On Growth and Form (1917; new edition, 1942), written in rich literary style, exemplifies best his great erudition in physical and natural sci­ ences, ancient and modern languages and the humanities ... Thomp­ son was a fellow (1916), vice-president (1931-33), and Darwin med­ alist (1946) of the Royal Society, president of the Classical Associa­ tion (I 929), knighted (I 937), and honoured by learned institutions own. In some perhaps I have been anticipated; but if I am ever found to encroach upon the remarks of any other commentator, I am willing that the honour, be it more or less, should be transferred to the first claimant, for his right, and his alone, stands above dispute" (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel johnson VII [New Haven/ London 1968] 10 1 ). RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R.RENEHAN 7 the world over." A standard textbook of zoology concludes with a list of books and publications that have greatly influenced the develop­ ment of zoology; the list is not unduly long, fewer than sixty names in all, among them Aristotle, Vesalius, Harvey, Descartes, Linnaeus, Lamarck, Cuvier, Darwin, Pavlov-and Thompson.3 Thus does Sir D' Arcy begin the Preface to his Glossary of Greek Fishes: "Ever since my day began I have done my share of the harmless drudgery of Lexicography. My Glossary of Greek Birds, to which this volume is a sequel and companion, was published fifty years and more ago; later on I read all through the proof-sheets of a famous Lexicon. All in­ dustrious men leave work unfinished and unused, and so shall I; but I am glad to have been able to complete this Book of Fishes, for it has been a work of love and predilection all along. A few more years spent on it would have been worth the while; but the night cometh when a man can work no more." The English is simple and beautiful, even strangely wistful. Who would have thought to discover such treasure in a dictionary of fish names? We have come into the pres­ ence not of some harmless eccentric, but of a great scientist who was thoroughly steeped in polite letters. The reader perceives at once the familiar echo of Dr Johnson's 'harmless drudge', at the beginning of the paragraph. The quotation from John's gospel (9.4), with which the paragraph concludes, is also a learned allusion, if I mistake not, to the venerable doctor. Among his Prayers and Recollections is to be found "0 God, make me to remember that the night cometh when no man can work." Boswell relates in his Life how he observed upon the dial-plate of Johnson's watch the inscription vv~ yap epXETm.4 Since 1962 a team of collaborators under the direction of the most distinguished living Spanish hellenist, Francisco Rodriguez Adrados, has been engaged in work on a new dictionary of ancient Greek, the Diccionario Griego-Espanol (hereinafter DGE). The first fascicule (a­ aAAu) appeared in 1980.5 For the history of this undertaking to date I may refer the reader both to the "Prologo" of the DGE itself, and to an informative paper published by Professor Adrados in 1979.6 There one can read not only of the numerous difficulties, both financial and technical, which are naturally to be expected in so ambitious a proj- 3 Hickman, Hickman, and Hickman, Integrated PrinCiples of Zoology5 (Saint Louis 1974) 970-73. 4 Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Hill/Powell, II (Oxford 1934) 57 (with nn.4 and 5 for further details). 5 Diccionaria Griego-Espanal I, Redactado bajo Ja direcci6n de Francisco R. Adrados (Madrid 1980). 6 "La Lexicographia Griega: Su Estado Actual y el Diccionario Griego-Espanol," Revista espanola de Iingilistica 9 (1979) 413-39. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 8 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK ect, but also of the old prejudices, still flourishing like tares among the wheat: "Yo he oido a algun distinguido colega, en un tribunal de oposiciones, aquello de que el trabajo lexicogniphicono tiene distin­ cion ni brillo y he oido a otros que han oido en otro tribunal que ese tipo de trabajo no debe contarsele a nadie como merito."7 An adage my father taught me when I was a little boy comes to mind: contra ignorantiam nulla de/ensio est. Any assessment of a new lexicon of classical Greek must begin with a clear statement of its relationship to LSJ. Simply put, LSJ is the main foundation upon which the DGE is building. Were it other­ wise, there would be something very amiss. All the entries in LSJ have been pasted on separate index cards; additions, revisions, cor­ rections proceed therefrom. For details see DGE xxii if. There are two central issues to which a reviewer of the DGE must address himself: first, the question of the need for a new lexicon,s and, sec­ ond, the quality of the work in the actual execution thereof. In principle the DGE is a valuable, and what is more, a courageous project of major dimensions. The difficulties of adequate funding and staffing have been formidable, and must surely have proved discour­ aging on all too many occasions. We fully recognize this and cannot express enough admiration for such perseverance in less than favor­ able circumstances; the collaborators at the DGE have been fighting the good fight-and in a worthwhile endeavor. For the format of this new lexicon is sufficiently different from that of LSJ to justify its existence. There is room for both. Apart from new classical materials not to be found in LSJ, the DGE also includes numerous entries from Christian Greek down to 600 A. D. (albeit in less detail than in the case of 'pagan' authors), many proper names9 (even the old Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary is far more useful to the student than LSJ in this regard), and regularly provides etymologies,IO in 7 Adrados (supra n.6) 429. 8 Especially in view of the fact that the British Academy, in association with Oxford University Press, has undertaken an ambitious new supplement to LSJ under the capable editorship of P. G. W. Glare, who has already brought the Oxford Latin Dic­ tionary to its successful completion. 9 One must take note of a project begun under the auspices of the British Academy, the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names. See Peter Fraser, "A New Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" in Tribute to an Antiquary, Essays . .. to Marc Fitch (Leopard's Head 1976) 73-81: "The aim of the Lexicon (LGPN) in the broadest terms is to provide a documented list of all personal names occurring in Greek literature, inscriptions, papy­ ri, and on vases, coins and other objects" (73). lowe this reference to my friend Pro­ fessor Clive Foss. For the most recent statement see JHS lO2 (1982) 237f. 10 [After this was in press I read the balanced and competent review of the DGE by N. G. Wilson in CR N.S. 32 (1982) 210-13. At 212 he writes, "The etymology offered RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R.RENEHAN 9 contrast to the occasional odd entry in LSJ, adding, where relevant, Mycenaean evidence.ll The publication of a companion lexicon of Mycenaean Greek is planned. One feature present in LSJ and missing from the DGE is the indication of genre and dialect distribution ("Tragic Word," "Never in Attic Prose," "Chiefly Epic and Ionic," "also in later Prose," etc.). Although LSJ at times make false state­ ments here, in principle such information is extremely important, for the ancient Greek language perhaps more than for any other, and the failure to include it is a serious deficiency in the DGE. Nevertheless the very fact that the new lexicon is composed not in English, or German, but in one of the great Romance languages is itself one considerable justification for its existence. There has been for some time a conscious effort to foster Greek studies in Spain~ this lexicon, if brought to a successful conclusion, could be the crowning achieve­ ment of our Spanish colleagues. Nor must one forget Mexico and the countries of Central and South America, where the DGE might well have a fructifying effect. National pride has its uses. It is time to take the measure of the maiden fascicule of the DGE. The publisher furnishes the following figures: List of authors List of papyri List of inscriptions Entries, a to aAAa Words, a to aAAa LSJ DGE 1309 143 115 5000 148,500 2490 250 160 8500 324,000 Increase 90% 75% 40% 70% 120% The statistical comparison with LSJ is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as the figures for the DGE include both Christian authors and numer- for a{jpo/3a:rac; strikes me as verging on the insane." He is referring to the following: "Prob. adaptacion griega del persa A(h)urapata 'el protegido de A(h)ura (Mazda).'" While I have never believed in this etymology (the word is clearly a native Greek compound: Eur. Med. 830 f3aivOVTE<; a{jpw.., 1164 a{jpov f3aivovO"u; and Hermann even conjectured a{3paTT)<; in Aesch. fr.60 N.2 = 75 Mette), this comment is perhaps a bit unfair, as it seems to suggest that the eymology is the creation of the editors of the DGE themselves. Actually no less an authority than Manu Leumann proposed it, and Bruno Snell judged it worthy of mention in his edition of Baccylides ad 3.48: "etymologia q.d. populari immutatum esse ex voce persica *awra-pata, *a(h)ura­ pata, 'ab Ahura (Mazda) protect us " i.e. 'vir persa' conicias collato nomine ... 'A{3pu­ oamc; i. *A(h)uradata-'ab Ahura donatus' ... cf. etiam avest. adi. ahuradata-'ab Ahura creatus, factus'. MLeumann per litteras." Nevertheless Dr Wilson is right to reject the etymology.J 11 For some etymologies the existence of laryngeals is assumed; for the specific kinds, see DGE xxxvii-xxxviii. Although myoId teacher Joshua Whatmough im­ pressed upon me the reality of laryngeals, it far exceeds my competence to pronounce upon them. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 10 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK ous proper names, two categories which LSJ normally omit as a mat­ ter of policy. Some pages in fact consist almost entirely of proper names; for example, on 153 ('A}."Kt.!3wfrq<;-'A}."KV()JJ'ry) of sixty-six en­ tries only fourteen are not such names. The corresponding section of LSJ (67, a}."Kt.!3wSEwv-a}."KVovEw<;) has thirteen entries, only one of which is a proper name ('A}."Kf.UXVt.KO<;, cited for the grammatical term, the UX71f.UX 'AAK/L.). Other than proper names the DGE has added here but one new entry not in LSJ, 12 the adjective a}."Kt.~S'T}<; which it cites from a recension of the Alexanderroman of Pseudo-Callisthenes. When one takes into account that the principles of inclusion for LSJ and the DGE are not the same, and that the new Supplement to LSJ, which will incorporate much, though not all, of the strictly 'classical' material in the DGE, is likely to be finished in ten years-that is to say, ten or more years before the completion of the DGE-and that moreover the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (supra n.9) will be much more comprehensive than the DGE in that category, then the claims and 'percentage increases' of the DGE seem, as stated above, misleading and somewhat exaggerated. This I felt bound to state in order to put things into proper perspective; the fact remains that the DGE will contain much new and useful material. The best way to evaluate the quality of this lexicon is by an inspec­ tion of specimen entries, which I now propose to do. To begin with the page considered above, 153, the longest entry there is aAKt.J.W<;, an adjective of which LSJ state "less common in prose," citing exam­ ples chiefly from Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, and Polybius. The DGE adds from Xenophon Hell. 7.4.30 and Cyr. 1.4.22 as well as a few instances from the late Ionic of the medical writer Aretaeus (influ­ ence of Herodotus rather than 'Hippocrates' here?); it could have added further instances from Xenophon, Oec. 4.l5, 6.10, and Hell. 7.3.1. Under the entry aAK'Tr,pw<; the DGE illustrates the substantival use of the neuter C. gen. from Euripides fr.697, aAK'Tr,pw. 'Tt/X'T}<;, without comment; LSJ state s. V. "so prob. E. Fr. 697 (cod. apK'Tr,­ Pw.)." Inspection of Nauck TGF2 ad loc. will show that both aAK'Tr,­ pw. and rVX'T}<; have been questioned. Nauck omits to indicate that the manuscript reading is apK'T-, not aAK'T- (compare Pfeiffer on Callim. fr.346). The text is not secure; here the DGE represents a step backward from LSJ. As we have seen, the editors of the DGE pride themselves on the amount of new material included, and they have some right to do so. 12 My sums are not wrong: the DGE lists aAKVSWv as a separate entry; in LSJ the form is incorporated into the entry for aAKVwv of which it is a by-form. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R. RENEHAN 11 It would however be a mistake to conclude that they have caught in their nets all the passages which merit citation in a lexicon of such proportions, for such is far from the case. In illustration thereof I offer the following specimens exempli gratia. a/3pa, ..;, ('favorite slave'): add Ezek. Exag. 19 (pI.). aya7Taw, B.II.1.c. part. ('be contented'): for this construction LSJ cited PI. Resp. 475B, Isoc. 12.8, Antiphanes 169~ for some reason the DGE has omitted and replaced them with PI. Resp. 473B, Dem. 55.19, PI. Phdr. 247D, thereby removing an instance from comedy and from Isocrates; add also Isaeus 8.43. aYKa"Al1;,w: the mid­ dle (the usual form) occurs in tragedy, Moschio TrGF I 97F9.3, espe­ cially interesting since hitherto only one classical occurrence of the verb has been cited (Semon. 7.77 = 8.77 Adrados). Similarly, the corresponding noun aYKaALa-,..ux, cited from Timotheus, Lycophron, and later authors, has now turned up in TrGF II 679.11 (from a satyr play?).13 LSJ s. v. aYKo~ state "Trag. only E. Ba. 1051"; the DGE cites the passage without the observation. See now TrGF II 445a (satyr play?) and 679.40 (not certainly tragic). Other omissions from tragedy include ayvwJ.WJv (Aristarch. TrGF I 14F3), aYPLow (Moschio, 97F6. 28), ayUJLvau'To~ (TrGF II 323), ayxov'11 (Neophron, I 15F3.2), aBo­ go~ (II 423), aEtK-r1~ (Critias, I 43F7.1l), aEA7r'TO~ (Ion, I 19F50; II 682.11), aOvpw (Pompeius Macer, I 180F1.4), aO~o~ (II 625.28), aKl­ V'11'TO~ (II 361), aAUx(T'TO~ (Eur. fr.1123; TrGF II 654.7). From other genres I note aYKLU'TpEUx, for which LSJ cited one example from Plato and the DGE a second from Aelian; add Aristaenetus 1.17 (metaphor­ ical). For the idiom aYEuOaL yvvcUKa = 'take to oneself a wife' neither LSJ nor the DGE provides any documentation from Attic prose; see Lys. 1.6. For 'ABpva~ ('hamadryad'), to the two examples in LSJ the DGE adds one from Nonnus (24.97); actually Nonnus seems to affect the word: 2.92; 22.14, 91; 24.26. For aKpoucpa"A-r1~ used in literary criticism add 'Longinus' 22.4. For atOVYIJ-a in a neo­ Platonic work see lambi. Protr. 5. ahux'To~ as a technical philosophical term is common in Proclus; neither LSJ nor the DGE adduce him. See e.g. [nst. 11, 28, 98. The participial form aKEwv is cited by the DGE from the Iliad and Odyssey; in early epic it also occurs at Hymn. Hom.Cer. 194 (aKEovua). Like LSJ, the DGE cites the idiom a"AwxE­ uOm, Ei~ 7rO"AEJLio~ ('fall into the hands of the enemy', 'be captured' by them) from Plato and an inscription from Amorgos; the orator Isaeus also used the expression (6.1).14 13 Kannicht/SnelI, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta II Fragmenta Adespota, was pub­ lished in 1980, presumably too late for the first fascicule of the DGE. 14 The material in this section has been taken from my Greek Lexicographical Notes. A Critical Supplement to the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell-Scott-Jones. Second Series RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 12 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK The editors of the DGE have been assiduous in taking advantage of the results of research in Greek lexicography and it is therefore good to be able to report that such research continues. Thus, to give a few examples, Papademetriou published "Notes on the Vocabulary of Secundus Taciturnus" in Glotta 56 (1978) 73-87. He there pointed out, among other things, that the entry cdJaAauCTia in LSJ, cited from Secund. Sent. 16, is a ghost word; the correct text is a8aAau­ uoe;, the adjective. The DGE, whether dependent upon Papademe­ triou or not I cannot say, has rightly removed the entry. Liana Lupa~ published a paper "Greek Lexicographical Notes" in the Rumanian journal Studii Clasice 19 (1980) 85-89. She has useful comments on the tragic word aSaJ.WToe;, which apparently has in every instance been corrupted to aSaJ.WuToe; or a8aJ.WvToe;; metre guarantees it in most cases. LSJ indicate this, but unclearly and giving Elmsley credit for all the corrections. For more accurate assignments of conjectures see Lupa~. The DGE gives no indication at all that a8aJ.WToe; lacks MS. authority. Again, the DGE s. v. aKAavToe;laKAavuToc; cites no examples from prose. Lupa~ notes, "The word occurs at least once in Prose, see Luc. Cat. 5." For medical Greek, Richard Durling has published several papers: "Lexicographical Notes on Galen's Pharma­ cological Writings" in Glotta 57 (1979) 218-22 and "Lexicographical Notes on Galen's Writings (Part II)" in Glotta 59 (1981) 108-16. LSJ cite examples of the adverb aKpatc/wwe; (s. v. aKpatc/wr,e; n from Philo and Heliodorus; these are omitted in the DGE, which adds an exam­ ple from Pollux. Durling adduces aKcppa«lwwc; from the physician Heras apud Gal. XIII 765.14 in the sense 'completely' (Glotta 57 220), and to the two examples of aYKtJA'1) in the technical medical sense of 'joint bent and stiffened by disease' which the DGE has taken over from LSJ (s. v. 1.3) he adds four from four separate physi­ cians, all quoted by Galen (Glotta 57 221). The technical term aYKT'1)­ pw'w = 'bind with an aYKTr,p' ("instrument for closing wounds," LSJ) is represented in LSJ and the DGE by one example from Crito apud Gal. XIII 878; Durling adds two more from Archigenes apud Gal. XII 577.7, 661.16 (Glotta 57 222). For additional examples of aypwvJ.Wt, a KptUia , aKpw,.wx, all in technical medical senses, see Durling's references in Glotta 59 108. Valuable though these contri­ butions be, far more important is the long-term project, A Dictionary (Hypomnemata 74 (1982)), which see for futher details. I may note that in the eighty­ eight entries corresponding to the material covered in the DGE fascicule I, there are approximately sixty citations not to be found in the DGE. In fairness let me add that my Supplement appeared too late for the DGE to use. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R.RENEHAN 13 of Ancient Medical Greek, which this same scholar has announced. For legal terminology, Ivars Avotins is studying Greek words and expres­ sions in the Digest, Code, and Novels. 15 One paper is forthcoming in Glotta, and another, more ambitious, study is in preparation. For the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae at Irvine see n.16 infra. Lexicography is more than mechanical cataloguing~ the authentic lexicographer is no mere compiler. He must possess substantial gifts both innate and acquired: considerable learning, thorough familiarity with the language and literature in question, and a very sober judg­ ment. For, in the last analysis, the proper task of the lexicographer is not to collect (a preliminary, albeit necessary, process), but to inter­ pret and illustrate.16 Fine specimens of the art can appear where least expected. 1. D. Beazley provided an excellent example in his paper, "The Rosi Krater" in JHS 67 (1947) 1-9, in which he discusses a bell-krater of the late fifth-century B.C. (New York 12.229.14) which represents a mythological scene ~nd has inscribed on it cHJuvuuUx (personified). Beazley writes (7), "As to the word a8uvuuUx, it can­ not have occurred in epic, since it will not fit into hexameter verse. It may have occurred in lyric ... In extant literature it is not found until the fourth century Osocrates, Plato, Antiphanes). The New York vase is therefore our oldest authority for the word a8uvuuia; unless, as we hope, we are right in our restoration of the fragmentary inscrip­ tion on the Rosi vase, which is older still, and would take the word back to the middle of the fifth century."17 a8uvuuUx is an important concept in Greek thought; one will search in vain for the oldest extant example(s) of it in LSJ or the DGE. There are, it need hardly be said, entries where the DGE has im­ proved faulty interpretations in LS1. That ayxov'l1 can mean 'rope for hanging' as well as the act of hanging had been forgotten by LSJ9; in the DGE this meaning is restored, possibly on the basis of Eduard 15 Professor Avotins writes (per litteras) "As far as I could tell from such a small sample, [the DGE'sl treatment of the Greek legal vocabulary is on much the same level as that of LSJ. In other words, no one on their staff seems to be reading the legal sources afresh." 16 It is for this reason that the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae at Irvine will not be con­ sidered here; strictly speaking, that project, whatever its merits, is not lexicography at all. The collection of a data bank can be a very useful service, but that service consists in providing the raw materials for others to interpret. That the Director of the TLG is a Latinist rather than a Hellenist (to judge from his publications) is thus not necessarily an anomaly; managerial skills would seem to be more important than Greek schol­ arship for an enterprise of this sort. For the relationship of the TLG to the DGE see DGE x, xviii-xix, xxv, xlvi. 17 lowe my knowledge of this paper to Emily Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry (Berkeley 1979) 241 n.30. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 14 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK Fraenkel's note ad Aesch. Ag. 1008ff; compare also my volume (supra n.14) s. v. ayxov'11' The meaning of ')'Vvat.Ko~ ai)(J.«l in Aesch. Ag. 483 is tentatively given by LSI (s. v. aiXJ..L,ry III), following a long tradition, as "woman's temper." Fraenkel refuted this notion in his comment ad loc. and the DGE now has it correct (s. V. aiXJ..L,ry 11.4: "imperio, dominacion"). For the adjective aKpo~ LSI recognize a separate meaning 'inmost', only of J..LVEAO~ in Eur. Hipp. 255 (s. V. 1.3). W. S. Barrett in his note ad loco exploded this notion ("aKpo~ in its literal use always of a surface or extremity; it is absurd to allege, as L.S.i.3, that we have here a unique 'inmost', the exact opposite of the normal meaning"). The DGE here perpetuates the error, it too recognizing a unique sense (s. V. aKpo~ IV: "hondo, intimo J..LVEAO~ E. Hipp. 255"). LSI S. V. aywv II1.6.b has the following entry: "of speakers, vehe­ mence, power, Longin. 15.1, c/. 26.3." Shackleton Bailey, "L.SJ. and Cicero's Letters" in CQ N.S. 12 (1962) 159, called attention to Att. 1.16.8, nam cetera non possunt habere eandem neque vim neque venusta­ tem remoto iIIo studio quem aywva vos [sc. Athenienses] appel/atis. "This passage," he remarks, "which LSI do not notice, illuminates two which they do, Longin. 15.1 OYKOV Kat J..LEyaA'11yopias Kat aywvo~ d 26 3 • (J , , • \., \ , \ • " an . EJ..L7T'a EUTEPOV TE aVTOV a,.."a Kat. 7T'pOUEKTt.KWTEpOV Kat. ayw- VO~ ~J..L7T'AEWV a7T'OTEAEUE(.~, where 'excitement' would come nearer than 'vehemence, power.'" In the Supplement of 1968, LSJ, presum­ ably on the basis of Shackleton Bailey's comments, add "after 'pow­ er', insert elan, Cic. Att. 1.16.8." (In his own translation Letters to Atticus Shackleton Bailey neatly renders the passage "which you folks call Ie feu de /'action.") Coming to the DGE S. V. aywv V.2, we find the following: "combatividad de un orador, Longin. 15.1; fuerza orato­ ria Cic. Att. 16.8." Neither LSI nor the DGE has interpreted satisfac­ torily. LSI, as we saw, begin their entry by stating explicitly "of speakers"; the DGE echoes this in both its definitions. The usage may be reasonably described as oratorical in a wide sense, but in Longinus 26.3-which has disappeared from the DGE-aywv is used of the hearer, not the speaker. The author is giving advice on how to make the aKpoaTTW aywvo~ ~J..L7T'AEWV, that is to say, an active partici­ pant in the contest, as it were. This extension of the term so as to include audience as well as orator ought to have been indicated. As for the definitions given in the DGE for the two passages there cited, had I to choose, I would have reversed them. After all, Cicero is explicit; he tells us what he means by aywv, namely studium con­ tentionis, and that is 'combatividad de un orador' rather than the more RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R.RENEHAN 15 general rendering '/uerza oratoria', which might pass muster for Lon­ gin. 15.1.18 Earlier lexica, special concordances, indices verborum, all these are legitimate tools for the lexicographer, but they are no substitute for a careful rereading of the texts themselves, for lexicographical pur­ poses, by scholars with enough Greek and command of the subject matter to make an independent and informed determination of the precise meaning of a word in a given passage. In some specialized areas this task is still a major desideratum. Legal Greek and medical Greek have been mentioned above~ the technical language of Greek literary and rhetorical theory, as found in the scholia and elsewhere, is another field in which much remains to be done. The Christian entries are not always handled satisfactorily; I con­ fine myself to a few illustrations. "aapwv apwva Dial. Tim. et Aquil. 77 reo [indecl.] hebr. 'arom esto es arca Epiph. Const. Mens. M.43. 244 c." The entry is an abridgement of the corresponding entry in G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon. Two forms of the word are cited, both as indeclinable. It is impossible to tell from this entry which form occurred in which work. Conclude that aapwv is to be found in the Dial. Tim. et Aquil. and apwva in Epiphanius because the forms and works are given in that sequence (first form corre­ sponding to first work, second to second), and you would be wrong. Here are the two passages. (1) Dial. Tim. et Aquil.: 8tO oihE ETE8T1 EV T~ apwva, TOVTEU'TtV EV riJ Ktf3wT~ Tilli 8ta8r,KTI Ii. (2) Epiph.: 8tO 8,ry EV T~ aapwv aVETE8T1U'av, TOVT€lTTtV EV riJ Tilli 8ta8r,KTlIi Ktf3WT~. Obviously there is some relationship between the two (not apparent even in Lampe, who quotes only Epiphanius in extenso). The editor of the Dialogue 0/ Timothy and Aquila (Oxford 1898), F. C. Conybeare, was aware of the similarities and concluded that both derived from a common source (xxv-xxvi). This is a very pertinent piece of information~ one source would have one form. In the Migne volume of Epiphanius 'Aapwv (sic, with capital initial letter) is indeed printed, but with the note "'Aapwv. Leg. 'Apwv, Hebraice ... arcam significat. Quam vocem hie opinor alteri substituendam." Confusion with the familiar proper name 'Aapwv, brother of Moses, could easily have deceived a Greek scribe into writing aa- for a- in the foreign word, and comparison with the Dial. Tim. et Aquil. suggests that such 18 On this use of o:ywv see further D. A. Russell in his edition of Longinus (Oxford 1964) ad 15.1 with references there given; he appositely translates "the sense of contest. " RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 16 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK indeed happened. Moreover, it is certain that there is a small lacuna immediately after this word in Epiphanius; a negative has dropped out, as scholars have rightly seen. I add that the negative is con­ firmed not only by the parallel passage in the Dial. Tim. et Aquil. but also by the Syriac version of Epiphanius' work, which has preserved the negative.I9 Now if the letters OVK have fallen out, possibly an­ other letter fell out with them and apow here was inflected after all: Ell T4) apwlI. Omission of uncial iota after uncial nu is easy and apwlIa in the corresponding passage certainly looks like an in­ flected form; perhaps it too should be corrected to the dative apwlII. (compare below). My ignorance of Hebrew forces me to speculate no further. What is clear is that the DGE has published a very imperfect entry. The next entry is the proper name 'Aapow, 0, which is stated to be· indeclinable. That is the general practice, but there are excep­ tions and the reader ought to have been so informed. 'AapwlI, -WlIO~, -WlIL, -wlIa occurs; see, for example, Josephus AJ 3.190, 208, 307; 4.15, 18, 21; 6.89; 8.228; 10.65; 20.225, 229. "a/3EATEpia, -a~, T, tb. a/3EAT71pia Chrys. M.59.749 1. simpleza ... PI. Smp. 198d . . . D.19. 98 . . . Arist. Pol. 1315a3 . . . Phld. Lib. p.41 ... Porph. Marc. 1. 2. simpleza culpable, depravacion del hombre despues de la caida, Chrys. M.59.749." It seems gratuitous to recognize a dis­ tinct and specialized meaning for this one passage (a meaning taken over from Lampe: "a/3EAT"f1pia, T" depravity; of man after Fall, :j:Chrys. pasch. 7 (8.278c)" (= PG 59.749). Here is the Greek: f..'';' yap opa , " "/3 ' '\\.!.' , A,.". 'y' , aVTOV T71l1 a EAT71pLall, alV\.U T"f111 1TpWT"f1l1 'fIU.lITa~OV KaTaCTTa(nll. Kal. yap KaT' EiKolla aVTC)l/ eaVTOV E1ToI:YJCTE. The reference is to man's present 'folly', as contrasted with his original state; no new meaning need be invented. Note also that Lampe by his symbol :j: clearly indi­ cated that the work in question is not by John Chrysostom but spuri­ ous; the DGE fails to do so. Finally, it is misleading to cite the orthog­ raphy a/3EAT"f1pia only from 'Chrysostom'. (Lampe, incidentally, in his Addenda et Corrigenda had second thoughts: "add '(f.1. for a/3EATE­ pia).'" This less correct spelling is not uncommon in the manuscripts and occurs as a variant, for example at PI. Symp. 198D and Arist. Pol. 1315a3; some editors have even preferred this spelling. Compare Ste­ phanus s. v. a/3EATEpia, 'also Bonitz Index Aristotelicus s. v. "aYKLCTTpO~, OV, T, anzuelo Gr. Nyss. M.44.265 C." That no Greek ever said T, aYKLCTTpO~ for TO aYKLCTTpOll I am not prepared to main­ tain. That Gregory of Nyssa, elegant Atticist that he was, wrote such 19 See Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures. The Syriac Version, ed. James Elmer Dean (Chicago 1935) 20. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R. RENEHAN 17 a barbarism I cannot believe. Nor do we have any evidence that he ever did. For this work is spurious, and Lampe, unlike the DGE, noted it as such. Not even Lampe mentions that in this very passage there is a variant Til aYKtUTpa for ai aYKtUTpat and that in the next sentence Til aYKtUTpa appears without variant. The most recent edi­ tor, H. Horner, prints the neuter form in both places.2o One may be of two minds concerning the inclusion of clearly cor­ rupt words; on occasion the form, or place of occurrence, is of suffi­ cient interest to justify an entry. LSJ admitted such words with dis­ cretion; the DGE sows with the whole sack. "t ayxo~' 1TpoUcfx!tTW~, " .." .. \ ' .. !::..!. H h" Ltd I " .f1 E~, 'YI 1TVty,.w.. 'YI 1T",'YIUWV. 'YI uupv sc. a te a oc.: coruun- duntur Evayxo~, aYXOU(E) , EyXO~, ayxov'YI'" A substantial number of new entries in the DGE consist of nothing but corrupt lemmata from Hesychius and comparable sources. Even if one defend on principle entries of this sort, and a case can be made for them, the treatment is not always adequate. "a'YIy6{3EpuOV' aVTt TOl) aKovuaTE, 'Pw,.w.iicT, .;, A.Eet~ sin dudo error 0 texto corrompido, Zonar. 95.24 C." In addi­ tion to 'Zonaras' (on whom see infra) the Suda should have been quoted, both for a probably more accurate form of the word and for a fuller explanation: 'AEtyvf3EV~: TOVTEUTtV aKovuaTE ·Pw,.w.i'uTI.. TO aEi , ., , !::' a.' , Adl d I " f O"TI,.w.tVEL aKovuaTE, TO uE tJEV~ 7TaVTE~. er a oc. comments c. Rom. lex. ms. Vatic. 867," to which I do not have access; for variant readings see Adler's apparatus criticus. Note also Du Cange's Glos­ sarium ad Scriptores Mediae et Infimae Graecitatis (Lyon 1688): "aELYV­ f3~, Codex Bib. MS. Suidae ex Bibl. Reg. aELyvf3Ev~, TOVT' EUTtV, aKovuaTE, Pw,.w.i'uTI.. TO aEt U'YI,.w.iVEt aKovuaTE, V{3E~, 8taA.aA.ia Kat " l' C d MS ,., ,., , !::' a. ' , 1Tav. a IUS o. . TO aEL O"TI,.w.WEL aKovuaTE, TO uE tJEV~, 1TaVTE~, Quid haec sibi velint non plane percipio." Whether Du Cange's form in -f3E~ (for -{3EV~) is a genuine variant or rather a misreading of the codices on his part I cannot say; Adler does not mention this ortho­ graphy. What is clear is that the entry in the lexicon of 1688 is super­ ior to that of the lexicon published but three years ago. There is worse. It is my duty, perforce, to state that some of the collaborators at the DGE know insufficient Greek for their chosen task. This be­ comes most apparent where they are least able to draw upon the knowledge of earlier scholars. J. A. Cramer published in his A need. Par. IV (Oxford 1841) 83-162 an alphabetical lexicon preserved in Paris. gr. 2669, a late MS., ("vergente ... decimo quinto saeculo scriptus est"). Whether this is the work of Zonaras or not Cramer leaves an open question; the DGE quotes it regularly as the product 20 Gregorii Nysseni Opera. Supplementum (Leiden 1972) p.17.5, 8. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 18 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK of that author, with no hint of the complexities involved in the attri­ bution of such mediaeval lexica. Cramer, as was his custom, seems to have printed the manuscript with a minimum of editorial correction; there is no apparatus criticus and errors· abound. The readers at the DGE are largely unaware of this. I offer some specimen entries from the DGE, with comments. "aaxwpa'Ta f.V rii KEaAii Kat T~ YEVE~ 7Tiropa Zonar. 122.2 C." The first sighting of the form aaxwpa ought to have put one on the qui vive; it simply does not look like a Greek word. The definition tells us precisely what was intended, a word for 'dandruff'. See LSJ s. v. 7Tiropov 2: "bran-like eruption on the skin, esp. the head, scurf, dandruff." There is such a word, axwp, -opo~, <> (also accented axwp, -wpor;) , defined in LSJ as "scurf, dandruff." It is found already in Aristophanes and is common in medical writings. Read therefore axwpa, the accusative singular, which was misunderstood as a neuter plural by the compiler, whence the plural in the definition Ta ... 7TiTvpa. If any doubt this, see Hesychius s. v. axwpa: TOV axwpa. ELp"f1Tat 8E TO 7Ttropw8Er; < T1j~ > KEaA 1jr;. (The text is partially restored, but the sense is not affected. See the editions of Schmidt and Latte') Delete the entry aaxwpa from the DGE. "ayyvdo-ar;' aVTt TOV KaTa7TaAawar; Zonar. 91.23 C." Another word of rather curious appearance. The definition KaTa7TaAawar; tells us not only that a wrestling term was intended, but that the lemma probably referred originally to a specific passage from the literature. Otherwise why cite the aorist participle rather than some form of the present? There is such a verb and such a passage, perhaps even two. LSJ s. v. ayKVp~w: "in wrestling, hook with the leg, trip, 8taAa/3Wv aYKVpwar; Ar. Eq. 262; aYKVpicrar; epP"f1gEv Eup. 262." (For Eupolis see Kock ad lac.) The Suda A 261-62 Adler may be cited for good ''A ' , \" \.' D I h ' measure: YKVpwar;, avTt TOV KaTa7Ta",awar;. e ete t e entry ay- yvdo-ar; from the DGE. "ayAao8"f1~r;' Aaf,J-7TpOr;, TETtf,J-"f1~VOr; Zonar. 87.15 C." Either the entry or the definition is faulty, for -8"f1~r; has not been taken into account. aYAao8"f1~r;, while possible, does not occur elsewhere; cor­ rect it to agree with the definition by writing aYAaOTtf.J-Or;. Compare the Suda A 266 Adler: 'AyAaOTtf.J-Ov: Aaf,J-7TPOV, TETtf,J-"f1f,J-EVOV. In Fr. Lex. II (see DGE xci for this work) 143 it is the definition that has suffered corruption: ayAaOTtf.J-Ov' Aaf,J-7T f,J-"f1f,J-EVOV (cor­ rexit editor). Delete the entry aYAao8"f1~r; from the DGE. "a8TI' crKA"f1POV, a8a~crTov, av8pw8Er; Zonar. 97.1 c." a8.ry would be an extraordinary adjective, if it existed. Again the definitions come to our aid. That which is av8pw8Er;, 'manly', is- not womanly. Take RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 R. RENEHAN 19 the initial alpha as privative and -(}T/ suggests at once the root (}T/A-. a()~ is a mutilated neuter form of a(}~AvvTO~ or a(}T/Av~. Photius and the Suda decide the question; both have the following entry: a(}~Avv­ TOV' a8a~.uw"ToV, (J'KA'r]pOV. Delete the entry a()~ from the DGE. "aryapo~' ~q>OV, Kat arya(TTpO~ Zonar. 98.19 c." There is no ~q>ov called ar'Yapo~~ correct to atya< y> po~, 'wild goat'. For this term see the DGE s. v. and compare Hsch. s. vv. aypwv aZya' atyaypov and atyaypoJ)' aZya aypwv. (For aryauTpo~ see Stephanus' Thesaurus s. v. atyaypo~.) Delete the entry aryapo~ from the DGE. "aKTaA'r] , iJ 'Trapa(}aAaU(Tia en una inscripci6n, Zonar. 105.31 c., cJ 32 c." Here is the inscription as printed by Cramer 005.32): 8wpa 'Trap' aKTaA'r] (TOt Tll8' €'Tr' wcp€A€i'r]~. Clearly it is a verse and clearly it is corrupt. aKTllA'r] is a ghost word; a comparison with Hesy­ chius aKTawv' 'Trapa(}aAa(TUWV would suffice to point us in the right direction, but the Suda A 1032 Adler explains all: 'AKTai'r]' iJ 'Trapa- () \ "'E ' .;:, ,... ", ",;:,",1..' a",aU(Tta. €V 'Trtypa/-LJ.!a.(Tt' uwpa 'Trap . aKTat'r]~ UOt Tau €'Trw'P€At'r]~ (A nth Pal. 6.33.2, where some modern editors prefer to print 'TrapaK­ Tai'r]~ coniunctim).21 Delete the entry aKTaA'r] from the DGE. The first fascicule of the DGE is thus a flawed performance, and we shall not pretend that it is otherwise. However, this initial volume covers but half the first letter of the Greek alphabet~ let us remember that the DGE is a huge project which, it is to be hoped, will continue to produce further volumes for many years. apx-ry 'TraVTO~ epyov /-LEytUTOV, says Plato. Professor Adrados and his fellow workers have laid down systematic foundations for the creation of a major new Greek lexicon, not an easy task under the best of circumstances and particularly difficult in these times. What remains for them to do will be long and arduous, but it can be done, especially with the full cooperation of the scholarly world. Word processing and computer print-outs would seem to be essential in order to permit constant correction of errors and insertion of new materials as the work pro­ ceeds. If scholars with special expertise in the various subject areas of the Greek language will take upon themselves the burden of reread­ ing their texts with one eye on LSJ and the DGE and publish the results in the journals in timely fashion, the quality of the DGE can be significantly improved. The editors have already demonstrated that they will use such material gratefully. On this continent the scholars of Canada and the United States should urge the American Philologi­ cal Association to demonstrate its support in a tangible way. There 21 See Gow/Page, The Greek Anthology. The Garland of Philip II (Cambridge 1968) 313, on Maccius 6.2. RENEHAN, R., A New Lexicon of Classical Greek , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:1 (1983:Spring) p.5 20 A NEW LEXICON OF CLASSICAL GREEK are precedents. To assume at this stage a superior stance before the DGE and confine oneself to a mean employment of adverse criticism may tempt some. Let me not be reckoned among their number. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA BARBARA January, 1983