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Colloquial Expressions in Aeschylus and Sophocles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

P. T. Stevens
P. T. Stevens
Affiliation:
Pretoria.
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Extract

In an article published in the C.Q. of October 1937 I collected instances of the use of colloquial words and expressions in the dialogue passages of Euripides. It was there noted that a few of these expressions also appear in Aeschylus and Sophocles, and the purpose of the present study is to collect these, together with other instances of colloquialism which are found in the two earlier tragedians and not in Euripides. The colloquial element in the language of Aeschylus and Sophocles is, of course, much smaller than in Euripides, but is perhaps greater than is sometimes supposed, and the topic has apparently not been treated elsewhere.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 39 , Issue 3-4 , July 1945 , pp. 95 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1945

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References

page 96 note 1 See below, B 4; D 7; F 6.

page 96 note 2 „ A 3; B 7; D 3; F 7; F 8.

page 96 note 3 „ B 3; D 1 e; D 5; D 9; D 10.

page 96 note 4 „ D 1 e; D 5; D 6.

page 96 note 5 Cf. Schol. on E. Phoen. 301 εἰ γ⋯ρ κα⋯ Ἑλληνικ⋯ς ⋯λ⋯λουν, ⋯λλ' οὖν γε τ⋯ν π⋯τριον ⋯π⋯χησιν ἔλῳζον τ⋯ς ϕων⋯ς. S. Fr. 176

κα⋯ γ⋯ρ χαρακτ⋯ρ αὐτ⋯ς ⋯ν γλώσσῃ τ⋯ με

παρηγορεῖ Λ⋯κωνος ⋯σμᾰσθαι λ⋯γου.

page 96 note 6 E. Harrison actually suggests that this word might be a Phocism, (C.R., 02 1936, p. 11)Google Scholar, but offers no definite evidence, and it is more natural to suppose that it is a poetic formation on the analogy of the Epic aorist ἔκιον.

page 96 note 7 See Murray, G., Aeschylus, pp. 63–5Google Scholar.

page 96 note 8 e.g. the abrupt insertion of 679; ἄλλως ‘any case’ (680); the homely, proverbial δε⋯ρ' ⋯πεζ⋯γην π⋯δας (676).

page 97 note 1 e.g. the use of the particle καίτοι, which becoming fairly common in Sophocles and Euripides and is found three times in the Pr. but not elsewhere in Aeschylus. The triviality of this and similar points of language gives them all the more value as indications of date.

page 97 note 2 There may conceivably be some reference this in the criticism of Dionys. Hal. (De Vett. Script. Cens. ii. II) κα⋯ πολλ⋯κις ⋯κ πολλο⋯ το⋯ μεγέθους ⋯ς δι⋯κενον κ⋯μπον ⋯κπίπτων, οἷον εἰς ίδιωτικ⋯ν παντ⋯πασι ταπειν⋯τητα κατέρχεται.

page 98 note 1 Compare ProfWebster's, version (Gk. Art and Lit., p. 142)Google Scholar ‘My boy, it is perfectly clear that you do not know what you are doing’; but ὦ παῖ is hardly as familiar as ‘My boy’.

page 99 note 1 Dittmar, , Sprachliche Untersuchungen zu Arist. und Men., p. 30Google Scholar, cites ten other examples.

page 99 note 2 The expression probably became current only towards the end of the fifth century, and for that reason would in any case be unlikely to appear in Aeschylus. Of eight examples in Euripides most are from later plays, and in Aristophanes the frequency increases greatly in late plays.

page 99 note 3 Cf. Pearson, in C.Q. xxiii, p. 91Google Scholar.

paqe 100 note 1 In S. Fr. 149 (from a satyr-play) Pearson suggests οὐχ ⋯πως in this sense, in a correction of the corrupt lines 6 f.

page 101 note 1 In the following notes on particles most of the material is taken from this book, which for convenience I have referred to as D.

page 102 note 1 ὦ οὔτος, οὔτος Οἰδ⋯πους, where the addition of ὦ perhaps adds a touch of solemnity. In any case this mode of address, though probably colloquial, is not necessarily uncivil, as indicated by, e.g., , E.Med. 922Google Scholar.

page 103 note 1 The use of the more poetic θέλεις perhaps modifies the colloquial tone.

page 103 note 2 The actual Greek equivalent of quid malum? is, of course, τἰ κακ⋯ν; e.g. Vesp. 973.

page 105 note 1 The natural meaning of ⋯ποζε⋯γνυμι is ‘set free’ or ‘unyoke’, and Tucker accepts the scholiast's explanation that the phrase is here used metaphorically of one who comes to the end of a journey. Verrall's objection that, strictly speaking, Orestes has not finished his journey demands a greater degree of accuracy than should be expected.

page 105 note 2 Alc. 1119. Ion 958. See C.Q. xxxi, p. 185.

page 105 note 3 In comedy the indirect interrogative is generally used in this idiom, but the direct form is also repeated, as in Ar, . Ran. 1424Google Scholar. Av. 1234. In Cho. 767 ὅπως has been conjectured, instead of ἦ π⋯ς, but no correction is needed.