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Headword: Anô kai katô
Adler number: alpha,2580
Translated headword: (to search) up and down, high and low
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
To move every stone.
Greek Original:
Anô kai katô: to panta lithon kinein.
Notes:
The proverb "to move every stone" given as the gloss here comes from the game of pessoi (pi 1384), where it may contain the phrase "from the sacred (sc. line)" and refers to the last desperate, decisive move to avoid outright defeat. It implies ultimate danger and a life-and-death gamble. It was widely used in Greek, perhaps as early as Alcaeus (fr.306.14 Lobel-Page). See Suetonius's use in the peri\ paidi/wn (ed. Taillardat pp. 153-4, who also discusses the use of pa=s as "decisive"). However, the gambling association of the original metaphor gradually disappeared (e.g. Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica 1.22; 2.8; 5.15; 6.6,7), and in respect of the Suda it is best to ignore the original metaphor and to translate the phrase literally (cf. pi 222, pi 223) as "to leave no stone unturned."
Whether this is in fact a correct definition of the phrase "high and low" is anyone's guess. On the other hand, it is possible that the move of the "last piece" required a dice throw of "high and low."
Reference:
Suetonius, peri\ blasfhmi/wn, peri\ paidi/wn, ed. J. Taillardat (Paris 1967) 27-44, 64-73 (text reconstructed from Eustathius, Etym. Magn., etc.), 80, 88-90, 104-13, 149-61 (notes)
Keywords: daily life; definition; imagery; poetry; proverbs
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 4 July 2000@10:51:49.
Vetted by:
Robert Dyer on 3 November 2001@06:58:37.
Robert Dyer on 3 November 2001@07:12:28.
Robert Dyer (Added a possible translation, a reference and notes, referring to the proverb from playing pessoi. Also removed "(search)" from headword, as not necessarily implied by the definition.) on 3 November 2001@08:26:21.
Robert Dyer (Changed references to Pi,222,223, removed proverbial meaning in the translation, and restored writer's "(search)" to the headword as appropriate to Suda's intention in this entry. Changed keywords.) on 4 November 2001@16:31:14.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 14 August 2002@03:28:11.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 28 November 2005@10:22:16.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics) on 16 March 2012@05:17:07.

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