A bird which shakes its behind a lot, [and] which some call "shake-arse".[1] And it is very thin. Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "poorer than a dabchick": a proverb, which
Menander uses in
Thais.[2]
*ki/gklos: o)/rneon th\n o)sfu=n polla\ kinou=n, o(/ tines seisopugi/da kalou=sin. e)/sti de\ sfo/dra lepto/n. kai/, h( ptwxo/teros ki/gklou: paroimi/a, h(=| ke/xrhtai *me/nandros *qai/+di.
Likewise in
Photius,
Lexicon kappa698 Theodoridis; similarly in (e.g.) the
scholia to Lucian,
De mercede conductis 21.
[1] Hence the verb
kigkli/zw: see
kappa 1585. The wagging is commented on by
Aelian,
Nature of Animals 12.9, who preserves fragments from
Autocrates (fr.1 Kock and Kassel-Austin),
Aristophanes'
Amphiaraus (fr.29 Kock and K.-A.), and
Aristophanes'
Geras (fr.140 Kock, 147 K.-A., including
kigkloba/tan "wagging while he walks".)
[2]
Menander fr.221 Kock (190 Körte-Thierfelder, 168 K.-A.). The proverb is explained in
Aelian,
Nature of Animals 12.9: "But the dabchick is a weak bird in the end, and for that reason they say that it cannot put together a nest on its own or for itself, but gives birth in others' nests. Hence the peasants' proverbs call the poor dabchicks;" cf.
kappa 1579,
kappa 1580.
No. of records found: 1
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