“Not According to our Usage…”: Linguistic Awareness in Hellenistic Editorial Practice on Homer
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Lara Pagani
Abstract
Although ancient grammarians apparently were not interested in the facts of linguistic evolution per se or from a theoretical point of view, it has been recently demonstrated with solid arguments that they had some awareness of linguistic diachrony and employed it in their philological task. This paper investigates, with a specific focus on Homer, whether the Hellenistic scholars drew on ideas and remarks connected with historical linguistics in a wide sense, by employing them in their work of textual criticism. An overview of a selection of Homeric scholia will show that ancient philologists (and especially their champion, Aristarchus of Samothrace) did indeed maintain that some forms in the Homeric text were unacceptable, or thought they could detect parts added by interpolators, or even challenged (real or alleged) textual choices of predecessors, on the basis of the belief that changes had occurred in language over time, in semantics, morphology, and construction, so that Homeric linguistic usage had characteristics that made it different from later usage.
Abstract
Although ancient grammarians apparently were not interested in the facts of linguistic evolution per se or from a theoretical point of view, it has been recently demonstrated with solid arguments that they had some awareness of linguistic diachrony and employed it in their philological task. This paper investigates, with a specific focus on Homer, whether the Hellenistic scholars drew on ideas and remarks connected with historical linguistics in a wide sense, by employing them in their work of textual criticism. An overview of a selection of Homeric scholia will show that ancient philologists (and especially their champion, Aristarchus of Samothrace) did indeed maintain that some forms in the Homeric text were unacceptable, or thought they could detect parts added by interpolators, or even challenged (real or alleged) textual choices of predecessors, on the basis of the belief that changes had occurred in language over time, in semantics, morphology, and construction, so that Homeric linguistic usage had characteristics that made it different from later usage.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures and Diagrams XIII
- List of Tables XV
- Abbreviations XVII
- By Way of an Introduction: “(Historical) Linguistics and/or (Classical) Philology” 1
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Part I: Greek Language and Linguistics
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Early Greek Poetry and Linguistics
- Pindar’s Genius or Homeric Words? – The Interplay of Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis in Greek Philology and Linguistics 51
- Homeric Enjambment (and Caesura): A Functional-Cognitive Approach 69
- Old Morphology in Disguise: Homeric Episynaloephe, Ζῆν(α), and the Fate of IE Instrumentals 107
- “Not According to our Usage…”: Linguistic Awareness in Hellenistic Editorial Practice on Homer 117
- A Song of Milk and Honey: The Poetic Transformation of an Ancient Ritual Drink in Pindar 139
- The Greek Augment: What this Amazingly Enduring Element Says about Continuity in Greek 165
- At the Crossroads of Linguistics and Philology: The Tmesis-to-Univerbation Process in Ancient Greek 175
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Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics
- Ideological Change and Syntactic Change in Ancient Greek: The Case of ἄτη and τύχη 215
- Syntactic Markedness and Stylistic Refinement: ‘Proleptic’ and ‘Resultative’ in Ancient Greek 245
- Girl, Υou’ll Be a Woman Soon: Grammatical Versus Semantic Agreement of Greek Hybrid Nouns of the Mädchen Type 263
- The Expression of Authority and Solidarity: ἡμεῖς in Place of ἐγώ in the Iliad 287
- A First Approach to Irony in Greek Oratory 301
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Comparative, Diachronic and Lexicographical Studies
- Greek Numeral System and Language Contacts in an Archaic Native Settlement of Southern Italy 319
- Non-Attic Vocalism, Epichoric Forms, and Attic Poetic Traditions 347
- Ἀμόργινος and ἀμοργίς: The Color of Olive Oil Lees and Aristophanes, Lysistrata 150 and 735, 737 369
- Some Remarks on Ancient Epirote Glosses 401
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Greek Papyri and Corpora
- A Typology of Variations in the Ancient Greek Epistolary Frame (I–III AD) 429
- Transposition of Nominal and Verbal Bound Morphemes: The Case of -ες and -ας in Greek Documentary Papyri 473
- Some Aspects of Irrealis and the Usage of ἄν in Post-Classical Greek 495
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Part II: Latin Language and Linguistics
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Various Issues in Latin Linguistics
- Varro’s Etymological Theory and Practice 527
- An Interplay of Approaches in the Editing of a Late Latin Medical Translation 547
- Towards a Unified Account of the ab urbe condita Construction in Latin and Ancient Greek 557
- Latin Linguistics and Neronian Pastoral Revisited 573
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Linguistics, Philology and Christian Latin
- New Concepts in Ancient Languages: Greek and Latin (and beyond) in the First Christian Letters 593
- Searching for Order in the Rule: The Contribution of Philology and Linguistics to the Study of Saint Benedict’s Latin 619
- List of Contributors 647
- General Index 653
- Index Locorum 665
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures and Diagrams XIII
- List of Tables XV
- Abbreviations XVII
- By Way of an Introduction: “(Historical) Linguistics and/or (Classical) Philology” 1
-
Part I: Greek Language and Linguistics
-
Early Greek Poetry and Linguistics
- Pindar’s Genius or Homeric Words? – The Interplay of Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis in Greek Philology and Linguistics 51
- Homeric Enjambment (and Caesura): A Functional-Cognitive Approach 69
- Old Morphology in Disguise: Homeric Episynaloephe, Ζῆν(α), and the Fate of IE Instrumentals 107
- “Not According to our Usage…”: Linguistic Awareness in Hellenistic Editorial Practice on Homer 117
- A Song of Milk and Honey: The Poetic Transformation of an Ancient Ritual Drink in Pindar 139
- The Greek Augment: What this Amazingly Enduring Element Says about Continuity in Greek 165
- At the Crossroads of Linguistics and Philology: The Tmesis-to-Univerbation Process in Ancient Greek 175
-
Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics
- Ideological Change and Syntactic Change in Ancient Greek: The Case of ἄτη and τύχη 215
- Syntactic Markedness and Stylistic Refinement: ‘Proleptic’ and ‘Resultative’ in Ancient Greek 245
- Girl, Υou’ll Be a Woman Soon: Grammatical Versus Semantic Agreement of Greek Hybrid Nouns of the Mädchen Type 263
- The Expression of Authority and Solidarity: ἡμεῖς in Place of ἐγώ in the Iliad 287
- A First Approach to Irony in Greek Oratory 301
-
Comparative, Diachronic and Lexicographical Studies
- Greek Numeral System and Language Contacts in an Archaic Native Settlement of Southern Italy 319
- Non-Attic Vocalism, Epichoric Forms, and Attic Poetic Traditions 347
- Ἀμόργινος and ἀμοργίς: The Color of Olive Oil Lees and Aristophanes, Lysistrata 150 and 735, 737 369
- Some Remarks on Ancient Epirote Glosses 401
-
Greek Papyri and Corpora
- A Typology of Variations in the Ancient Greek Epistolary Frame (I–III AD) 429
- Transposition of Nominal and Verbal Bound Morphemes: The Case of -ες and -ας in Greek Documentary Papyri 473
- Some Aspects of Irrealis and the Usage of ἄν in Post-Classical Greek 495
-
Part II: Latin Language and Linguistics
-
Various Issues in Latin Linguistics
- Varro’s Etymological Theory and Practice 527
- An Interplay of Approaches in the Editing of a Late Latin Medical Translation 547
- Towards a Unified Account of the ab urbe condita Construction in Latin and Ancient Greek 557
- Latin Linguistics and Neronian Pastoral Revisited 573
-
Linguistics, Philology and Christian Latin
- New Concepts in Ancient Languages: Greek and Latin (and beyond) in the First Christian Letters 593
- Searching for Order in the Rule: The Contribution of Philology and Linguistics to the Study of Saint Benedict’s Latin 619
- List of Contributors 647
- General Index 653
- Index Locorum 665
