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Headword: *na/fqa
Adler number: nu,90
Translated headword: naphtha
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
This word has three genders: for it is commonly [feminine] h( na/fqa, but the neuter to\ na/fqa is also found, while in Plutarch [the masculine] o( na/fqos [is found] as well.[1]
[Note] that the Greeks call this 'Medea's oil',[2] but the Medes [call it] naphtha.[3]
Greek Original:
*na/fqa: trigene\s tou=to: koinw=s me\n ga\r h( na/fqa, eu(/rhtai de\ kai\ ou)dete/rws to\ na/fqa, para\ *plouta/rxw| de\ kai\ o( na/fqos. o(/ti oi( me\n *(/ellhnes *mhdei/as e)/laion tau/thn kalou=sin, oi( de\ *mh=doi na/fqan.
Notes:
[1] Naphtha appears as a masculine noun in Quaestiones Convivales 681C. Plutarch also provides a long digression on naphtha in Alexander 35, where he employs the substance as a metaphor for Alexander's character. The word is a borrowing from Persian: see the LSJ entry at web address 1.
[2] Plutarch considers this version of the Medea story briefly in Alexander 35.10-12.
[3] From phi 103.
References:
Sansone, D. (1980), "Plutarch, Alexander, and the Discovery of Naphtha." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 21: 63-74
Whitmarsh, T. (2002), 'Alexander's Hellenism and Plutarch's Textualism'. Classical Quarterly 52.1: 174-192
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: biography; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; imagery; mythology; science and technology; women
Translated by: Bradley Buszard on 18 June 2003@09:12:55.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (modified translation, added keyword, cosmetics) on 18 June 2003@10:46:29.
David Whitehead (added x-ref; cosmetics) on 19 June 2003@02:59:37.
Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou (tweaked translation; added biblio and keywords.) on 8 June 2012@10:58:51.
David Whitehead on 5 June 2013@05:00:49.
Catharine Roth (expanded note, tweaked link) on 18 September 2013@00:08:17.

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