Suda On Line menu Search

Home
Search results for nu,37 in Adler number:
Greek display:    

Headword: *na/rqhc
Adler number: nu,37
Translated headword: narthex; fennel; Narthekis
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
"[...] and the ever-ready fennel[-rod] for striking infants' pates [...]."[1]
Look here(?), [sc. for where it is noted] that the narthex is dear to the drunkard and so to light-headed Dionysus.[2] And [sc. note] the [proverb] "many narthex-bearers, but few Bacchi".[3]
And [sc. note] that they say Narthex [is] an islet of Samos, on the right for those approaching by sea; its ethnikon [is] Narthekoussaios or Narthekousios.[4]
Greek Original:
*na/rqhc. kai\ panakei/tan na/rqhka krota/fwn pla/ktora nhpia/xwn. zh/tei e)ntau=qa, o(/ti o( na/rqhc w)|kei/wtai tw=| mequ/sw| kai\ ou(/tws e)lafrw=| *dionu/sw|. kai\ to/, polloi\ narqhkofo/roi, pau=roi de/ te *ba/kxoi. kai\ o(/ti *na/rqhc nhsi/dion e)ggu/s fasi *sa/mou e)n decia=| toi=s prosple/ousin: ou(= e)qniko\n *narqhkoussai=os h)\ *narqhkou/sios.
Notes:
Since the headword is unglossed, it is impossible to say which of the diverse meanings of na/rqhc (see LSJ s.v., and cf. pi 2367) has prompted it.
[1] Greek Anthology 6.294.1-2 (Phanias), a retiring schoolmaster dedicates his professional tools to Hermes; cf. Gow and Page (vol. I, 162); (vol. II, 465-467); and further excerpts from this epigram at kappa 1663, pi 854, and sigma 1310. The dried stem of the giant fennel (na/rqhc, Ferula communis) was strong enough to serve as a light cane, but unlikely to cause injury when struck against the body; cf. Gow and Page (vol. II, 466) and Raven (86-87).
[2] This mysterious sentence (and indeed the rest of the entry) is lacking in manuscripts AFV, and added in the margin of manuscripts GIM.
[3] Zenobius 5.77 and other paroemiographers.
[4] More exactly Narthekis (Barrington Atlas map 61 grid E2): see Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. (the source of the Suda's material), and already Strabo 14.1.14.
References:
A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page, eds., The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams, vol. I, (Cambridge 1965)
A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page, eds., The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams, vol. II, (Cambridge 1965)
J.E. Raven, Plants and Plant Lore in Ancient Greece, (Oxford 2000)
Keywords: botany; children; daily life; definition; food; geography; medicine; poetry; proverbs; religion
Translated by: David Whitehead on 11 August 2009@08:45:28.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (expanded note, set status) on 12 August 2009@19:06:59.
David Whitehead (tweaked tr; x-ref) on 13 August 2009@03:21:22.
David Whitehead on 3 June 2013@06:06:34.
Catharine Roth (tweaked note) on 13 October 2020@19:45:47.
Ronald Allen (added map reference) on 14 October 2020@15:09:56.
Ronald Allen (expanded n.1, added bibliography, added cross-references) on 4 February 2022@11:52:10.

Find      

Test Database Real Database

(Try these tips for more productive searches.)

No. of records found: 1    Page 1

End of search