Suda On Line menu Search

Home
Search results for mathematics in Keyword:
Greek display:    

Headword: Abaxi
Adler number: alpha,16
Translated headword: [in/on/with] planks, abacuses
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
What we call a)ba/kia.[1] The Lawmaker [says] in the Martyrdom of Saint Thecla: "Tryphaina was overcome by suffering, and was seen lying like the dead on the slabs."[2] So he says.
Greek Original:
Abaxi: tois par' hêmin legomenois abakiois. ho Logothetês en tôi tês hagias Theklês marturiôi: Truphaina de pathei lêphtheisa nekrois homoia pros tois abaxin hôrato keimenê. houtô phêsin.
Notes:
This entry occurs after alpha 17 in ms A (= Parisinus 2625), after alpha 9 in ms S (= Vaticanus 1296) and in the margin of ms D (Bodleianus Auct. V 52).
[1] The given form is a dative plural of a)/bac, ("abacus"), and the lexicographer explains it by reference to the diminutive a)ba/kion. The primary sense is a table topped by a slab, or the slab itself; a "calculator" is a secondary meaning.
[2] Symeon Metaphrastes (also known as the Logothete ('Lawmaker')) Patrologia Graeca 115.837c. On Thecla, see theta 102.
Keywords: biography; Christianity; dialects, grammar, and etymology; gender and sexuality; history; mathematics; religion; science and technology; women
Translated by: Anne Mahoney on 22 August 1998@12:53:59.
Vetted by:
William Hutton (Modified translation and notes, added keywords, raised status) on 18 January 2001@09:46:37.
Catharine Roth (modified translation, augmented note) on 7 November 2002@15:06:33.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 7 November 2002@15:08:44.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 9 November 2005@09:20:27.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 6 September 2006@23:44:05.
William Hutton (modified headword and translation, augmented notes, set status) on 24 August 2007@09:36:45.
William Hutton on 24 August 2007@09:42:51.
Jennifer Benedict (tweaks) on 24 March 2008@23:50:31.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 18 December 2011@10:35:22.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 7 February 2015@23:44:46.
Catharine Roth (tweaked headword translation) on 17 February 2024@00:53:18.
Catharine Roth (changed cross-reference) on 17 February 2024@14:04:15.

Headword: Athêlunton
Adler number: alpha,725
Translated headword: unwomanish
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning someone or something] inflexible, hard.
Greek Original:
Athêlunton: adamaston, sklêron.
Notes:
Same entry in Photius and elsewhere. The headword, masculine/feminine accusative singular or neuter nominative/singular of this two-termination adjective, must be quoted from somewhere; extant possibilities are all late.
Besides the literal meaning there is also an applied one, in Pythagorean mathematical literature: an odd number; see LSJ s.v. at web address 1 below.
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; ethics; gender and sexuality; imagery; mathematics; women
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 4 December 1999@15:33:49.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (modified headword; added note and keywords) on 20 May 2002@03:38:30.
Catharine Roth (changed keyword) on 29 September 2005@02:00:43.
Jennifer Benedict (added link) on 19 March 2008@14:39:48.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaks) on 19 January 2012@07:03:44.
David Whitehead on 1 May 2015@09:22:53.
Catharine Roth (upgraded link) on 2 May 2015@12:05:22.

Headword: Akaina
Adler number: alpha,826
Translated headword: akaina
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning a] ten-foot measure. It is a rod, by which they goad their cattle, with the Pelasgians having invented this.
Greek Original:
Akaina: metron dekapoun. esti de rhabdos, di' hês kentousi tous boas, hôs tôn Pelasgôn touto heurontôn.
Notes:
Same or similar entry in Photius and other lexica, and cf. also the scholia to Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1323.
See already under alpha 825.
Dimensions in akainai are especially common in the technical treatises of Hero [Author, Myth](n), but see also e.g. Diodorus Siculus 20.91.4 (as conventionally restored) for square akainai.
For the Pelasgians see pi 934, and generally OCD(4) s.v. (p.1099).
Keywords: daily life; definition; mathematics; poetry; science and technology; zoology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 27 January 2000@22:11:56.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note and keywords; cosmetics) on 27 May 2002@09:06:22.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaks) on 23 January 2012@08:35:39.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 30 July 2014@03:46:36.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 10 January 2015@22:52:50.
David Whitehead on 5 May 2015@11:34:11.

Headword: Analogon
Adler number: alpha,1943
Translated headword: proportion, proportionate
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
The definition of proportion is this: it has a size proportionate to the reciprocal things which display the same a)nqufai/resis -- Aristotle's word for a corresponding diminution. Those things which have proportion to one another also are said to be similar to one another.[1]
But a)na/logon [also] means similarly.
And elsewhere: "the soldiers [were] noble to see, and were proportionate to their equivalent status."[2]
Also [sc. attested is the related adverb] a)nalo/gws, [meaning] equally. Also [sc. attested is the comparative] a)nalogw/teron, [meaning] that which is loftier, wiser, more analogical.
Greek Original:
Analogon: analogou horismos estin houtos: analogon echei megethê pros allêla, hôn hê autê anthuphairesis. ho de Aristotelês tên anthuphairesin antanairesin eirêke. ta d' analogon echonta pros allêla kai homoiôs echein pros allêla legetai. Analogon de anti tou homoiôs. kai authis: hoi de stratiôtai gennaioi ophthênai, kai tôi isôi axiômati analogountes. kai Analogôs, isôs. kai Analogôteron, to hupsêloteron, to sophôteron, to analogikôteron.
Notes:
[1] Alexander of Aphrodisias, Commentaries on Aristotle's Topica 545.15-18.
[2] Quotation (transmitted, in Adler's view, via the Excerpta Constantini Porphyrogeniti) unidentifiable.
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; mathematics; military affairs; philosophy
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 11 May 2001@21:09:29.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 29 July 2002@08:19:16.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 25 February 2011@09:57:29.
David Whitehead on 27 February 2011@04:57:43.
David Whitehead (betacoding and other cosmetics) on 24 February 2012@06:36:37.
Catharine Roth (tweak, coding) on 14 February 2015@11:14:38.
Catharine Roth (betacode) on 1 July 2015@23:35:26.
Catharine Roth (another keyword) on 21 November 2021@00:50:59.

Headword: Anaximandros
Adler number: alpha,1986
Translated headword: Anaximandros, Anaximander
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Son of Praxiades, Milesian, philosopher, a relative and student and successor of Thales.[1] He first discovered an equinox and solstices and hour-indicators, and that the earth is situated in the very middle [of the universe]. He also introduced a sundial and explained the basis of all geometry. He wrote On Nature, Circuit of the Earth, and On the Fixed Bodies and Globe and some other works.
Greek Original:
Anaximandros, Praxiadou, Milêsios, philosophos, sungenês kai mathêtês kai diadochos Thalêtos. prôtos de isêmerian heure kai tropas kai hôrologeia kai tên gên en mesaitatôi keisthai. gnômona te eisêgage kai holôs geômetrias hupotupôsin edeixen. egrapse Peri phuseôs, Gês periodon, kai Peri tôn aplanôn kai Sphairan kai alla tina.
Notes:
C6 BCE. See generally OCD(4) p.83.
[1] For whom see theta 17.
Keywords: biography; chronology; geography; mathematics; philosophy; science and technology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 12 May 2001@10:45:37.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note, bibliography, keywords; cosmetics) on 13 May 2001@09:55:52.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 1 October 2005@16:24:02.
David Whitehead (tweaking) on 26 February 2012@05:35:23.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 30 July 2014@06:03:15.

Headword: Anapempazein
Adler number: alpha,2000
Translated headword: to ponder, to calculate, to count over
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] to go over in the mind, to recollect. It is created from those counting continually and repeatedly with the five fingers of their hand, as if counting by fives [kata\ penta/da].[1]
Also [sc. attested is] a)napempazo/menoi ["they pondering"], [meaning] they counting up, they reckoning.[2]
Greek Original:
Anapempazein: ananeousthai, anamimnêskesthai. pepoiêtai apo tôn tois pente daktulois tês cheiros suneches arithmountôn kai epanalambanontôn, hoionei kata pentada arithmountôn. kai Anapempazomenoi, anarithmoumenoi, skeptomenoi.
Notes:
Same entry in ps.-Zonaras; similar ones in Photius (s.v. a)napempa/zesqai) and Hesychius (s.v. a)napempa/zei and a)napempazo/menoi, on the second of which see below).
[1] The Aeolic form for pe/nte "five" is pe/mpe -- both from Indo-European *penkwe.
[2] This actual form of the present middle participle, the nominative masculine plural, occurs in (and might therefore be quoted here from) Lucian, Menippus 12. Note however that Photius s.v. cites Plato in this context, i.e. accusative a)napempazome/nous in Plato, Laws 724B.
Keywords: aetiology; daily life; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; imagery; mathematics; philosophy
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 12 October 2000@12:14:42.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added keywords; cosmetics) on 29 July 2002@10:29:39.
Catharine Roth (added note) on 29 July 2002@10:43:15.
David Whitehead (augmented notes; betacoding) on 9 November 2005@09:07:30.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 26 February 2012@06:55:01.
David Whitehead on 1 July 2015@09:21:26.

Headword: Axiômata
Adler number: alpha,2828
Translated headword: axioms
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Thus Aristotle calls both the propositions requiring demonstration and the indemonstrable ones, as [is] his custom.[1]
Greek Original:
Axiômata: houtôs legei Aristotelês kai tas deomenas apodeixeôs protaseis, kai tas anapodeiktous, hôs ethos autôi.
Notes:
See already alpha 2827 (and cf. alpha 2825, alpha 2826).
[1] Alexander of Aphrodisias, Commentaries on Aristotle's Topica 547.21-22. In the Posterior Analytics Aristotle speaks of two types of indemonstrable propositions: (1) the axioms, i.e. those principles that a learner must already have if he or she is willing to learn any scientific discipline (An.Post. 72a17; see also Metaphysics 1005a20. These indemonstrable axioms include the general laws of thought, such as the principle of non-contradiction and the law of the excluded middle; see An.Post. 71a13-14; Met. 1005b19-20). (2) What Aristotle understands as the peculiar principles of a scientific discipline, i.e. some items that are proper to each particular science. For instance, arithmetic assumes the existence of units, geometry that of points and lines (An.Post. 76a37-76b5).
Reference:
J. Barnes, Aristotle, Posterior Analytics. Translated with a Commentary (Oxford 1994)
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; mathematics; philosophy
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 29 November 2000@21:49:30.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (added note) on 16 August 2002@01:52:01.
Marcelo Boeri (Modified translation; added keywords) on 29 August 2002@01:25:13.
Marcelo Boeri (Expanded note; added bibliography) on 29 August 2002@03:08:18.
David Whitehead (augmented x-refs; cosmetics) on 14 July 2003@07:34:22.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 29 September 2005@11:26:32.
David Whitehead on 21 March 2012@08:27:17.
David Whitehead on 2 August 2015@06:15:18.

Headword: Apartian
Adler number: alpha,2929
Translated headword: chattels, household utensils, moveables
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] removal/baggage, fulfilment of a completion.[1]
Also [sc. attested is the adverb] a)partizo/ntws ["precisely,"], [meaning] the [condition of] neither surpassing nor lacking.[2] "For a term is a word which, when analyzed, is uttered precisely."[3]
Also[4] [sc. attested is] a)partilogi/a ["even number"], a number and reckoning made even [and] complete. Thus Lysias [sc. uses the word].[5] But Herodotus [in book] seven [sc. also uses the word]. Xerxes says to Pythios the Lydian: "so that the four million [staters] shall not lack seven thousand".[6]
Greek Original:
Apartian: aposkeuên, telos apartismou. kai Apartizontôs, to mête huperballein mête endein. horos gar esti logos kat' analusin apartizontôs ekpheromenos. kai Apartilogia, apêrtismenos kai plêrês arithmos kai logos. houtôs Lusias. Hêrodotos de z#. legei de Xerxês pros Puthion ton Ludon: hina mê toi epideeis ôsin hai tetrakosiai muriades hepta chiliadôn.
Notes:
[1] = Synagoge alpha731; Photius, Lexicon alpha2264. The headword, evidently quoted from somewhere, is in the accusative case. See also Hesychius alpha5817: a)parti/an: meta/basin, a)poskeuh/n, te/los, a)partismo/n. Latte in his edition of Hesychius suggests Numbers 31:18 LXX as a source.
[2] Alexander of Aphrodisias, Commentaries on Aristotle's Topica 43.1 Wallies.
[3] Diogenes Laertius 7.60, quoting Antipater's first book On Terms; cf. alpha 1951, omicron 627.
[4] The remainder of the entry is abridged from Harpokration s.v.
[5] Lysias fr.28 Sauppe (now 33 Carey), from the lost speech In Reply to Aresandros.
[6] Herodotus 7.29.2. The noun a)partilogi/h occurs in the clause following the one quoted here. See web address 1.
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: biography; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; economics; historiography; mathematics; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 25 December 2000@16:06:29.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (Modified translation, added references, raised status.) on 27 December 2000@00:36:35.
David Whitehead (added note) on 27 December 2000@06:10:00.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 17 August 2002@17:55:53.
David Whitehead (added note; cosmetics) on 18 August 2002@05:52:18.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 4 July 2008@06:52:32.
David Whitehead (x-refs; cosmetics) on 25 March 2012@06:44:05.
William Hutton (tweaked and augmented note 1) on 21 August 2013@10:49:11.
David Whitehead on 3 August 2015@10:42:54.
David Whitehead on 15 August 2015@08:25:49.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 5 September 2015@23:53:00.
Catharine Roth (typo) on 10 February 2021@01:23:51.

Headword: Aposon
Adler number: alpha,3537
Translated headword: non-quantitative
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] that which is without measure.[1] But a)/pwson [spelled] with an omega [means] repel![2]
Greek Original:
Aposon: to ametron. Apôson de dia tou ô megalou, to ekpempson.
Notes:
[1] Comparably, according to Adler, in the Ambrosian Lexicon.
[2] See again at alpha 3676.
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; philosophy; religion
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 3 June 2001@19:41:59.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 22 August 2002@04:33:11.
David Whitehead (note; betacode and other cosmetics) on 5 April 2012@06:45:46.
David Whitehead on 29 August 2015@09:18:51.
Catharine Roth (another keyword) on 30 September 2015@01:28:55.
Catharine Roth (changed keywords) on 30 September 2015@01:37:41.

Headword: Arithmô
Adler number: alpha,3880
Translated headword: I count
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Used] with an accusative.[1]
Also [sc. attested is the participle] a)riqmou=nta ["him counting"], [meaning him] assigning. "And counting some men to the bodyguards/spear-carriers".[2]
The Pythagoreans gave a name to every number. The number adds up to ten. Ten [is] the sum of the four [numbers]. And because of this they used to call the whole number tetraktys [four-sum].[3]
Greek Original:
Arithmô: aitiatikêi. kai Arithmounta, katatattonta. kai arithmounta tinas tois doruphorois. hoti hoi Puthagoreioi panta arithmon prosêgoreuon. ho de arithmos sumplêroutai tois deka. ho de deka sunthesis tôn d#. kai dia touto ton arithmon panta tetraktun elegon.
Notes:
[1] Likewise in syntactical lexica.
[2] Quotation unidentifiable.
[3] That is, 1+2+3+4=10. (This material comes from tau 394.)
Keywords: biography; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; mathematics; military affairs; philosophy; science and technology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 24 July 2001@23:32:59.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (modified translation; added note and keywords; cosmetics) on 25 July 2001@04:38:01.
David Whitehead (more keywords; betacode and other cosmetics) on 12 April 2012@03:25:51.
David Whitehead on 31 August 2015@04:42:34.

Headword: Harmatôlia
Adler number: alpha,3971
Translated headword: chariot-driving
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] the driving of chariots. "And they have been nibbling at the [sc. calendric] cycle by chariot-driving."[1] Meaning sparing the chariots themselves.
But harmatrochia ["chariot-wheel track"] [is] the furrow of the chariot. There is also hamatrochia.[2]
Greek Original:
Harmatôlia: hê tôn harmatôn hêniocheia. kai tou kuklou paretragon huph' harmatôlias. anti tou pheidomenoi tôn harmatôn autôn. Harmatrochia de hê encharaxis tou harmatos. esti kai Hamatrochia.
Notes:
[1] Aristophanes, Peace 415 (web address 1 below). The next sentence in the gloss is a scholium to this line (which would have done better to comment on e.g. the pun on a(rmatwli/a and a(martwli/a ("failure") and generally to explain this allusion to recent calendar reforms in Athens). Again at pi 576.
[2] As is implicit here, and already explicit at alpha 1509, the Suda regards these two words as synonyms. This was an oddly common error: see LSJ under a(matroxi/a, which actually meant "driving side by side".
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: athletics; chronology; comedy; definition; mathematics; science and technology; zoology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 30 July 2001@11:54:20.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (modified translation; augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 31 July 2001@03:39:10.
David Whitehead (more keywords; cosmetics) on 7 February 2007@05:09:15.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 12 April 2012@08:28:51.
David Whitehead on 31 August 2015@06:49:16.
Catharine Roth (tweaked link) on 5 November 2015@23:34:20.

Headword: Arouraia mantis
Adler number: alpha,3990
Translated headword: field mantis
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those who are sluggish and ineffectual. There is a clumsy locust, green, called a mantis, whose movements some heed and [thereby] prophesy.[1]
The aroura[2] contains 50 feet.[3]
Greek Original:
Arouraia mantis: epi tôn nôthrôn kai apraktôn. esti de akris duskinêtos, chlôra, kaloumenê mantis, hês tines prosechontes tais kinêsesi manteuontai. hoti hê aroura echei podas n#.
Notes:
Appendix Proverbiorum 1.40 (and elsewhere).
[1] The praying mantis (Mantis religiosa); again at mu 169.
[2] An Egyptian land-measure.
[3] cf. sigma 981.
Keywords: agriculture; daily life; ethics; geography; mathematics; proverbs; religion; science and technology; zoology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 29 July 2001@18:13:01.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 30 July 2001@06:04:54.
David Whitehead (added keyword) on 25 August 2002@07:06:37.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 12 April 2012@10:17:14.
David Whitehead (another x-ref) on 24 January 2014@08:42:24.
David Whitehead on 31 August 2015@07:29:27.

Headword: Artia
Adler number: alpha,4036
Translated headword: even, exact
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning things that are] fitted, complete, sound. These things are also said to be "joined" [a)/rmena].[1]
Also [sc. attested is the related verb] a)rtia/zein, [meaning] to play at odds or evens [a)/rtia]. "We play at odds and evens with staters." Aristophanes [sc. says this].[2]
Also [sc. attested is the adverb] a)rtia/kis ["an even number of times"].[3]
[An example of] an "even" number is 32, but an "even-odd" [a)rtiope/rittos] [number is one which] when halved [turns] straight into an odd number, like 14. For the half of this [is] seven.[4]
Greek Original:
Artia: hêrmosmena, teleia, hugiê. legetai de tauta kai armena. kai Artiazein, to paizein artia ê peritta. statêrsi d' artiazomen. Aristophanês. kai Artiakis. Artios arithmos ho lb#, Artioperittos de ho dichotomoumenos eutheôs eis perisson arithmon, hoion ho tôn id#. toutou gar to hêmisu hepta.
Notes:
[1] Same or similar glossing in other lexica, including Apollonius' Homeric Lexicon, and cf. also the scholia to Homer, Iliad 5.326, where this neuter plural occurs.
[2] Aristophanes, Wealth [Plutus] 816, abridged (web address 1 below); cf. sigma 1009.
[3] First in Plato, Parmenides 143E and 144A.
[4] cf. pi 1278 perissa/ "odd."
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: comedy; daily life; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; epic; mathematics; philosophy
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 17 August 2001@04:40:07.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 17 August 2001@06:29:56.
Catharine Roth (inserted betacode, added cross-reference) on 3 June 2004@02:38:12.
Catharine Roth (changed keyword) on 29 September 2005@11:20:44.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 13 April 2012@06:12:27.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 29 March 2015@23:49:22.
Catharine Roth (tweaked link) on 9 November 2015@00:14:27.

Headword: Chilia
Adler number: chi,304
Translated headword: thousand
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
A number.
Greek Original:
Chilia: ho arithmos.
Note:
Here neuter (as in alpha 104 and mu 437).
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; mathematics
Translated by: David Whitehead on 29 April 2003@08:56:40.
Vetted by:
Elizabeth Vandiver (Raised status) on 2 September 2003@15:58:29.
David Whitehead (x-refs) on 3 September 2003@09:36:35.
David Whitehead on 11 November 2013@08:02:56.

Headword: Chosroês
Adler number: chi,418
Translated headword: Chosroes, Khosrau, Khosraw
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
The Persians' king. "They praise him and they wonder at his merit -- not [only] the Persians, but even some of the Romans -- since (they say) he was a lover of literature and came to mastery of our philosophy, when the Greek writings had been translated for him into the Persian language by someone. And therefore they say that he gulped down all of the Stageirite[1] even more eagerly than the Paeanian did the son of Oloros,[2] and was totally obsessed with the teachings of Plato the son of Ariston[3] and nor could the Timaeus[4] elude him, even though it is very much embellished with geometrical speculation and investigates the movements of nature, and neither could the Phaedo[5] or the Gorgias[6] [elude him], nor indeed did any other of the sophisticated and more difficult dialogues, like the Parmenides.[7] But I," Agathias says, "would never have believed that he had such an excellent education and this consummate attainment. For how would it have been possible for that purity of ancient words, free and suited and completely fit to the nature of things to have been preserved in a unrefined and discordant language? How could a man who was exalted[8] from childhood by royal pomp and a great deal of flattery, who had a very barbaric[9] lifestyle, who was always on the lookout for wars and conspiracies, how could a man who was set on such a course of life [be supposed] to derive enjoyment from and be trained in these teachings? Therefore, if one should praise him, although he was a king and a Persian, concerned with so many peoples and matters, because he nevertheless desired to enjoy literature somehow or other and to be exalted in his reputation for these things,[10] then even I myself would praise the man and consider him greater than the other barbarians. But as many as go too far in calling him 'wise' and all but superior to those who ever practiced philosophy anywhere, [saying] that he knew the principles and causes of every art and discipline ... those men would be caught straying far from the truth and following only the rumour of the masses."
Greek Original:
Chosroês: ho Persôn basileus. humnousin auton kai agantai pera tês axias mê hoti hoi Persai, alla kai enioi tôn Rhômaiôn, hôs logôn erastên kai philosophias tês par' hêmin es akron elthonta, metabeblêmenôn autôi hupo tou es tên Persida phônên tôn Hellênikôn sungrammatôn. kai toinun phasin, hoti dê holon ton Stageiritên katapiôn eiê mallon ê ho rhêtôr ho Paianieus ton Olôrou, tôn te Platônos tou Aristônos anapeplêstai dogmatôn, kai oute ho Timaios auton apodraseien an, ei kai sphodra grammikêi theôriai pepoikiltai, kai tas tês phuseôs anichneuei kinêseis, oute ho Phaidôn oute ho Gorgias, oumenoun oude allos tis tôn glaphurôn kai ankulôterôn dialogôn, hopoios ho Parmenidês. egô de, phêsin Agathias, houtôs auton arista echein paideias, kai tauta tês akrotatês, ouk an pote oiêtheiên. pôs men gar hoion te ên to akraiphnes ekeino tôn palaiôn onomatôn, eleutherion kai pros ge têi tôn pragmatôn phusei prosphoron te kai epikairotaton, agriai tini glôttêi kai amousotatêi aposôthênai; pôs de anêr basileiôi tuphôi ek paidôn kai kolakeiai pollêi gegannumenos diaitan te lachôn es hoti barutatên kai pros polemous aei kai parataxeis horôsan, pôs dê oun hôde bious emelle mega ti kai logou axion en toisde aponasthai tois didagmasi kai enaskêthênai; ei men oun epainoiê tis auton, hoti dê basileus ge ôn kai Persês, ethnôn te tosoutôn kai praxeôn melon autôi: ho de ephieto goun homôs amêgepê apogeuesthai logôn, kai têi peri tauta gannusthai doxêi: xunepainesaimi an kai egôge ton andra kai meizona theiên tôn allôn barbarôn. hosoi de lian auton sophon apokalousi kai mononouchi tous hopoi pote pephilosophêkotas huperballomenon, hôs kai hapasês technês te kai epistêmês tas archas kai aitias diaginôskein, ekeinoi an malista phôratheien ou tôn alêthôn estochasmenoi, monêi de têi tôn pollôn hepomenoi phêmêi.
Notes:
Chosroes I (Persian Anushirvan), the twentieth Sassanid king of Persia who ruled 531-579; cf. PLRE IIIa s.v. Chosroes I Anoushirvan. The bulk of this entry, after the initial gloss, quotes Agathias, Histories 2.28; cf. Frendo (62-63).
[1] Aristotle (alpha 3929), who was from Stageira (sigma 977).
[2] That is, Demosthenes (delta 454, delta 455) and Thucydides (theta 414). The influence of Thucydides' style on Demosthenes is readily apparent.
[3] For Plato see pi 1707.
[4] Plato's dialogues generally take their names from the man whom Socrates interrogates. Timaeus was a mathematician and philosopher of the Pythagorean school: see tau 601. The dialogue contains discussions of the order and laws of the physical universe and on the ultimate unknowability of the gods.
[5] Phaedo was a pupil of Socrates: see phi 154. The dialogue recounts the last hours of Socrates' life and his beliefs about the transmigration of souls.
[6] Gorgias of Leontinoi was a rhetor, often called a "sophist": see gamma 388. The dialogue sees Socrates arguing that the power of rhetoric creates belief without supporting knowledge.
[7] Parmenides was a disciple of one of the Ionian schools: see pi 675. The dialogue sees Socrates and Parmenides debating the existence of Platonic Forms.
[8] The text of Agathias has geganwme/nos; the Suda substitutes gegannume/nos.
[9] The text of Agathias has barbarikwta/thn ("barbaric"); the Suda substitutes baruta/thn ("serious").
[10] Quoted also at mu 533.
References:
J.R. Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. IIIa, (Cambridge, 1992)
J.D. Frendo, trans., Agathias: The Histories, (Berlin 1975)
Keywords: biography; dialects, grammar, and etymology; ethics; geography; historiography; history; mathematics; military affairs; philosophy; politics; rhetoric; science and technology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 3 April 2008@05:00:21.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation, added keyword, set status) on 3 April 2008@11:41:35.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaked note numbers and other cosmetics) on 4 April 2008@03:09:05.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation, added cross-reference) on 14 May 2009@11:54:42.
David Whitehead (another keyword; tweaking) on 12 November 2013@08:35:23.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 19 February 2015@00:47:12.
Ronald Allen (added bibliography; fixed cross-reference n.1, added cross-reference) on 8 October 2023@20:32:05.

Headword: Chrôma
Adler number: chi,539
Translated headword: color
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Whenever the crystalline of the eye is colored as a result of a certain affection, it seems to us that the air and the other visible things have been colored with the same color. [...] He says that the visible, what by itself exists in the domain of the visible, is color, and says that surface is what is visible by itself.[1] Surface is visible by itself, although not such as [something] is by itself on account of definition. For [the expression] 'by itself' is double [in its meaning]: either it is that which is taken in the definition of the subject, such as 'animal' and 'rational' in the definition of man (for these belong by themselves to man), or that whose subject is taken in the definition, such as number in the definition of odd and even,[2] and nose in the definition of snubness.[3] For these belong by themselves to the definition. Now, it is not thus that he says that surface is visible by itself, but insofar as it contains in itself the cause of being visible. And this is color, for the color existing in surface is what is visible, and this is what the eyes perceive [...] the color existing in volume. For in the case of transparent stones, even though we think we see them colored through the whole volume, we are deceived with regard to our eyes. For the eyes or [rather] the activities of colors, because the stones are transparent, pass through their depth. And we perceive the stones through the color existing in their surface. This is why we also think we have seen the color existing in the depth.
The Pisidian [writes]: "these things are not decorated for the sake of gratification; all the arguments of truth are simple."[4]
On color, search in the [entry] 'gray'.[5]
Greek Original:
Chrôma: hoti hopênika to krustalloeides tou ophthalmou apo tinos pathous chrômatisthêi, dokoumen tôi autôi chrômati kai ton aera kai ta alla horata kechrôsthai. Chrôma de phêsin horaton to epi tou kath' hauto huparchon horatou: kath' hauto de horaton phêsi tên epiphaneian. kath' hauto de horaton hê epiphaneia, ouch houtôs, hôs tôi horismôi kath' hauto: ditton gar to kath' hauto. ê hoper en tôi horismôi tou hupokeimenou paralambanetai, hôs to zôion, kai to logikon en tôi horismôi tou anthrôpou [tauta gar kath' hauto huparchei tôi anthrôpôi]: ê hou en tôi horismôi to hupokeimenon paralambanetai, hôs en tôi horismôi tou artiou ê tou perittou ho arithmos: kai en tôi horismôi tês simotêtos hê rhis. tauta gar kath' hauto huparchousi tôi horismôi. ouch houtôs oun phêsi kath' hauto horaton tên epiphaneian, all' hôs echousan en heautêi to aition tou horaton einai. touto de esti to chrôma: to gar en têi epiphaneiai chrôma touto esti to horaton, kai toutou hai opseis antilambanontai, ... tou en bathei chrômatos: tous gar diaphaneis tôn lithôn ei kai dokoumen horan di' holou tou bathous kechrôsmenous, tas opseis apatômetha. tôi men gar diaphaneis einai tous lithous diabainousi dia tou bathous hai opseis ê tôn chrômatôn hai energeiai. dia tou chrômatos de tou en têi epiphaneiai tôn lithôn antilambanometha: kai dia touto dokoumen kai to en bathei chrôma heôrakenai. kai Pisidês: ouk esti tauta pros charin kechrôsmena: haploi de pantes tês alêtheias logoi. zêtei peri chrômatos en tôi phaion.
Notes:
The first and principal section of this entry is taken (with slight variations) from John Philoponus, On Aristotle's de anima 293.2-3 and 320.6-26.
For the headword see already chi 538.
[1] See Aristotle, de anima 418a29-30.
[2] cf. Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 84a12 ff.
[3] cf. Aristotle, Metaphysics 1030b17-19, 1037a31, 1064a25.
[4] George of Pisidia, Persian Expedition 3.37.
[5] phi 179; see also phi 178.
Keywords: definition; imagery; mathematics; medicine; philosophy; poetry; science and technology
Translated by: Marcelo Boeri on 10 May 2003@16:07:49.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 11 May 2003@05:56:10.
Ross Scaife ✝ (fixed typo, upped status) on 14 November 2003@15:34:32.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 29 September 2005@11:22:16.
David Whitehead on 13 November 2013@09:47:40.
David Whitehead (tweaked a note) on 5 February 2014@08:23:30.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 26 November 2014@19:33:10.
Catharine Roth (typo) on 5 July 2023@01:08:00.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 5 July 2023@01:54:40.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 5 July 2023@16:59:39.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 27 August 2023@19:41:18.

Headword: Choinikes
Adler number: chi,590
Translated headword: choinix, choenix
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
The noun means not only the measure [sc. of that name], but also fetters.[1]
Choinikes are fetters of a certain kind; a choinix [is] anything rounded. Hence also the measure is named a choinix. Aristophanes in Plutus [writes]: "your shins are crying out, woe woe, craving the choinikes and the fetters."[2]
Greek Original:
Choinikes: ou monon to metron, alla kai tas pedas sêmainei to onoma. hai choinikes pedai tines eisi: choinix de pan peripheres. dio kai to metron choinix kaleitai. Aristophanês Ploutôi: hai knêmai de sou boôsin, iou iou, tas choinikas kai tas pedas pothousai.
Notes:
For this nominative plural headword see also chi 591. LSJ s.v. notes the two senses of it mentioned here as nos. I and II (of three).
[1] Similar comments in Hesychius and other lexica.
[2] Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 275-6 (web address 1), with comment from the scholia to 276.
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: clothing; comedy; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; law; mathematics; science and technology; trade and manufacture
Translated by: David Whitehead on 4 April 2008@09:18:59.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (added link and keyword, set status) on 4 April 2008@11:48:41.
David Whitehead (tweaks) on 6 April 2008@03:48:29.
David Whitehead on 14 November 2013@05:16:41.

Headword: Choinikes
Adler number: chi,591
Translated headword: choinix, choenix
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning the units] by which Egyptians measure [time-]periods.[1] "The category of supremely contemplative souls [is] rarer than that of the choinix, by which Egyptians measure [time-]periods; the likes of Amous and Antonios".[2]
Greek Original:
Choinikes: hois tas periodous metrousin Aiguptioi. spaniôteron de to genos tôn theôrêtikôtatôn psuchôn ê to tou choinikos, hôi tas periodous metrousin Aiguptioi: hoios ên Amous kai Antônios.
Notes:
For this nominative plural headword see already chi 590. The present entry stems from a confusion between two Greek words which differ only in their initial consonant, choinix and (what it should be) phoinix; cf. under phi 798.
[1] The glossing phrase is taken from the quotation given.
[2] Synesius, Dio 9 (PG.66.1137a). For Amous and Antonios see alpha 1632.
Keywords: biography; Christianity; chronology; definition; geography; mathematics; philosophy; rhetoric; science and technology; trade and manufacture; zoology
Translated by: David Whitehead on 4 April 2008@09:35:11.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (added keywords, set status) on 4 April 2008@15:04:03.
David Whitehead (another keyword; tweaks) on 6 April 2008@04:06:15.
David Whitehead (another note) on 14 November 2013@05:22:07.

Headword: Dareikous
Adler number: delta,72
Translated headword: Darics
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
It was a gold currency, which Darius first devised.[1]
When Xerxes sent an envoy to him and offered him three thousand Darics, [Aristides] said that he had no use for Persian wealth, living the life he did. He happened to be serving low-grade bread.[2]
The army of this Darius was counted, and apart from the navy 700,000 were found together with the cavalry. Against the Scythians 600 ships were assembled.[3]
Greek Original:
Dareikous: nomisma ti ên chrusoun, hoper Dareios prôtos epenoêsen. hoti Xerxês hôs auton presbeusamenou Aristeidou kai trischilious dareikous autôi didontos, ouden epistrephesthai ephê tou Persikou ploutou toiautêi chrômenos diaitêi. etuche de ouk epimelê ton arton prospheromenos. toutou tou Dareiou êrithmêthê ho stratos, kai heurethêsan muriades chôris tou nautikou sun hippeusin o#. nees de hexakosiai sunelegêsan epi Skuthas.
Notes:
The headword is accusative plural. See also delta 73.
[1] Likewise in other lexica.
[2] For this story see already alpha 3903.
[3] cf. Herodotus 4.87.1 (web address 1).
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: biography; chronology; daily life; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; economics; ethics; food; geography; history; mathematics; military affairs; science and technology; trade and manufacture
Translated by: James L. P. Butrica ✝ on 25 February 2000@13:35:29.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (supplied headword; modified translation; added note and keywords) on 25 March 2001@09:14:56.
David Whitehead (added keyword) on 10 September 2003@08:31:28.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics; fixed wrong note number noticed by Andrew Smith) on 10 October 2004@19:07:12.
Catharine Roth (added link) on 10 October 2004@19:09:45.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 10 November 2005@10:41:40.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 14 June 2012@06:57:14.
Catharine Roth (upgraded link) on 15 June 2012@12:42:19.

Headword: Dekataios
Adler number: delta,180
Translated headword: for ten days; ten days old
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] tenth.
Greek Original:
Dekataios: dekatos.
Note:
Same entry, according to Adler, in the Ambrosian Lexicon -- but the attested meanings of the headword do not bear out this equivalence: see LSJ s.v.
Keywords: chronology; definition; mathematics
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 24 July 2002@11:10:22.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note; cosmetics) on 5 September 2002@12:38:46.
David Whitehead (expanded note; more keywords) on 18 June 2012@05:44:32.
David Whitehead on 8 October 2015@08:39:17.

Headword: Dekachoia
Adler number: delta,188
Translated headword: tenfold
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[Meaning] ten times.
Greek Original:
Dekachoia: dekaplasia.
Note:
Same or very similar entry in other lexica; the headword deka/xoia is otherwise unattested.
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; mathematics
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 24 July 2002@11:53:50.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note) on 5 September 2002@12:51:24.
David Whitehead (expanded note) on 18 June 2012@06:15:36.
David Whitehead on 8 October 2015@10:37:37.

Headword: Diabêtês
Adler number: delta,507
Translated headword: compass
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
The compass [is] an instrument, useful for many crafts, [which is shaped] rather like the letter l[ambda]. By inserting one half of this instrument and moving the other half around, they make circles.[1]
The name also refers to the thing which shows the time.[2]
Greek Original:
Diabêtês. ergaleion ho diabêtês, euchrêstos technais pollais, tôi l stoicheiôi pareoikôs. toutou to hen meros entithentes, to de heteron periagontes kuklous poiousi. sêmainei de kai onoma kairou parastatikon.
Notes:
[1] From a scholion on Aristophanes, Clouds 178, where the headword occurs (web address 1).
[2] This last sentence presumably refers to the gnomon of a sundial (gamma 346).
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: comedy; definition; mathematics; science and technology; trade and manufacture
Translated by: Nicholas Wilshere on 16 October 2004@14:52:55.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (added note, link, and keyword; set status) on 16 October 2004@21:41:36.
David Whitehead (x-ref for n.2; further cosmetics) on 17 October 2004@03:47:53.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 27 June 2012@05:39:52.
Catharine Roth (another keyword) on 18 July 2016@17:18:31.

Headword: Diametros
Adler number: delta,653
Translated headword: diameter
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
A kind of geometrical [term].
Eunapius [writes]: "as in accordance with certain diameters, horns extend the tongue to the clashing contacts of the points."[1]
But[2] Dinarchus calls the residue from something that has been fairly measured out a "diametron."[3]
Greek Original:
Diametros: geômetrikon ti eidos. Eunapios: hôs kata tinas diametrous keraias kechiôsthai tên glôttan tais antitupois sumbolais tôn akidôn. Deinarchos de diametron legei to elleipon apo tou dikaiôs metrêthentos.
Notes:
[1] Eunapius fr. 100 FHG (= 272.19-20 Dindorf); but these words also appear in Theophylact Simocatta, Histories 2.6.2, as de Boor pointed out.
[2] The source now becomes Harpokration s.v.
[2] Dinarchus fr. XIX.3 Conomis.
Reference:
C. de Boor, "Suidas und die Konstantinsche Exzerptsammlung I." Byzantinische Zeitschrift 21 (1912) 418 n.2
Keywords: definition; historiography; history; imagery; mathematics; military affairs; rhetoric; science and technology
Translated by: David Whitehead on 19 October 2000@06:07:50.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note and keywords; cosmetics) on 5 September 2002@09:32:48.
Elizabeth Vandiver (Cosmetics) on 5 September 2003@17:06:26.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 1 October 2005@16:27:36.
Catharine Roth (bibliography) on 26 December 2009@22:51:22.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics) on 5 July 2011@05:08:53.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 11 July 2015@00:40:14.
David Whitehead on 26 October 2015@04:06:44.

Headword: Dikaiarchos
Adler number: delta,1062
Translated headword: Dikaiarkhos, Dicaearchus
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Son of Pheidias, Sicilian, from the city of Messene.[1] Pupil[2] of Aristotle. Philosopher and rhetorician and geometrician. [He wrote] [3] Measurements of the Mountains in the Peloponnese[4]; Life of Hellas in 3 books.[5]
This man wrote the Constitution of the Spartans; and a law was enacted in Lakedaimon that each year the story should be read out in the archive of the Ephors and that the men of youthful age should listen. And this persisted for a long time.[6]
Greek Original:
Dikaiarchos, Pheidiou, Sikeliôtês, ek poleôs Messênês, Aristotelous akoustês, philosophos kai rhêtôr kai geômetrês. Katametrêseis tôn en Peloponnêsôi orôn, Hellados bion en bibliois g#. houtos egrapse tên politeian Spartiatôn: kai nomos etethê en Lakedaimoni kath' hekaston etos anaginôskesthai ton logon eis to tôn Ephorôn archeion, tous de tên hêbêtikên echontas hêlikian akroasthai. kai touto ekratei mechri pollou.
Notes:
OCD(4) s.v. 'Dicaearchus' (p.447), by C.B.R. Pelling.
One of the giants of Hellenistic geography, perhaps the most immediately relevant predecessor to Eratosthenes (so Strabo, anyway).
[1] Modern Messina.
[2] Literally 'listener', 'hearer'. Dikaiarkhos' floruit is placed c.320-300 BC.
[3] Only a selection of his writings are specified here; for the full range see the bibliography cited below.
[4] Apart from Strabo, who mentions Dikaiarkhos by name about a dozen times, the main source for the mountain measuring (with reference to instruments) is Theon of Smyrna, On the Mathematical Knowledge Useful for Reading Plato, 3.3.
[5] This 'Life of Greece' was a history of world culture.
[6] Dicaearchus 2 Mirhady.
References:
RE suppl. xi. 526-34.
Kleine Pauly, ii. 19-21.
D.C. Mirhady, "Dicaearchus of Messana: The Sources, Text and Translation," in W. Fortenbaugh and E. Schütrumpf (eds), Dicaearchus of Messana: Text, Translation, and Discussion, 2000, 1-142.
Keywords: biography; constitution; geography; history; law; mathematics; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: D. Graham J. Shipley on 18 April 2001@07:02:11.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (cosmetics, keywords) on 21 April 2001@23:38:32.
David Whitehead (augmented notes; cosmetics; raised status) on 22 April 2001@06:11:30.
Ross Scaife ✝ (Added to notes, following an exchange with Neel Smith) on 22 April 2001@19:34:14.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 1 October 2005@16:28:16.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 18 November 2005@09:51:03.
David Mirhady (updated ref) on 2 September 2008@19:23:55.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 3 August 2014@05:04:06.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 2 January 2015@00:56:39.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 22 August 2016@19:38:18.

Headword: Dioptra
Adler number: delta,1195
Translated headword: dioptra
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
A mechanical implement,[1] with which the geometers used to assess with precision the measure of battlements from a distance.
The Pisidian [writes]: "you will see these things in advance with your dioptra".[2]
Greek Original:
Dioptra: mêchanikon technourgêma, di' hou hoi geômetrai apêkriboun tên tôn epalxeôn ek diastêmatos anametrêsin. Pisidês: tauta pro pollou têi dioptrai sou blepeis.
Notes:
Likewise in ps.-Zonaras.
[1] See already under delta 1192; LSJ entry at web address 1.
[2] George of Pisidia, Heraclias 3 fr.8.
Reference:
M.J.T. Lewis, Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 2001
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; mathematics; military affairs; poetry; science and technology
Translated by: Antonella Ippolito on 11 January 2005@14:50:29.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (adjustments to translation; modified n.2; another keyword; cosmetics) on 12 January 2005@03:44:11.
Catharine Roth (cosmetic) on 12 February 2005@01:31:40.
Catharine Roth (added keyword) on 1 October 2005@16:28:54.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 12 July 2012@08:26:19.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 16 November 2014@00:40:54.
David Whitehead on 16 November 2014@11:30:26.
Catharine Roth (tweaked reference) on 26 November 2014@23:37:26.
David Whitehead (another note) on 11 November 2015@06:42:19.

Find      

Test Database Real Database

(Try these tips for more productive searches.)

You might also want to look for mathematics in other resources.
No. of records found: 192    Page 1