Abstract
This study aims to analyse how Atticist lexicographers used ancient sources to problematize their lack of sensitivity to literary contexts. This article focuses on comic passages that are interpreted according to the prescriptive outlook of Atticist lexicographers. I will show how lexicographers’ notes on linguistic correctness betray a general indifference towards the stylistic registers and complex variety of the language of comedy. Two case studies will be investigated: (a) the backdating of koine words and (b) the misinterpretation of comic corrections. The analysis of these two cases shows that lexicographers very often interpreted comic attestations as evidence of regular Greek expressions if this reading served the purpose of censoring or supporting a specific usage, regardless of whether or not the comedians were using a word metaphorically or in a jocular way.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Prof. Olga Tribulato for her suggestions and comments on this piece. The citations of Greek and Latin authors in this article follow the OCD abbreviations.
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© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient Greek and Latin Lexicography
- Atticist Lexica and the Interpretation of Comic Language
- Second-Century CE Lexicography: Genre or a Literary Current of Language, Politics, and Social Dynamics?
- Considerations on Some Notable Words in a Latin Account of Payments from Tebtynis
- Lucus a non lucendo: Enantiosemy in Ancient Latin Lexicography
- Part II Greco-Latin Lexicography in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern World
- Latin Grammarians as Lexicographers: The Treatment of Nouns with Uncertain Gender
- Claretus And the City: The Glossarius, Its Latin Neologisms and Its Reception in Municipal Administrative Texts
- A Distorted Lemma: Στεφάκης Ἀθηναῖος ἱερομόναχος and a False Biography of Nicholas of Methone
- Part III Lexicography and Classics: Uses, Perspectives, and Ongoing Projects
- Latin Lexicography and Textual Criticism: A Lexical Note on Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.380
- An Ongoing Supplement to Traditional Dictionaries: WiP – Words in Progress and the Contribution of Greek Documentary Papyrology
- Why a Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint?
- Pluralist Perspectives in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae
- List of Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient Greek and Latin Lexicography
- Atticist Lexica and the Interpretation of Comic Language
- Second-Century CE Lexicography: Genre or a Literary Current of Language, Politics, and Social Dynamics?
- Considerations on Some Notable Words in a Latin Account of Payments from Tebtynis
- Lucus a non lucendo: Enantiosemy in Ancient Latin Lexicography
- Part II Greco-Latin Lexicography in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern World
- Latin Grammarians as Lexicographers: The Treatment of Nouns with Uncertain Gender
- Claretus And the City: The Glossarius, Its Latin Neologisms and Its Reception in Municipal Administrative Texts
- A Distorted Lemma: Στεφάκης Ἀθηναῖος ἱερομόναχος and a False Biography of Nicholas of Methone
- Part III Lexicography and Classics: Uses, Perspectives, and Ongoing Projects
- Latin Lexicography and Textual Criticism: A Lexical Note on Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.380
- An Ongoing Supplement to Traditional Dictionaries: WiP – Words in Progress and the Contribution of Greek Documentary Papyrology
- Why a Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint?
- Pluralist Perspectives in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae
- List of Contributors