cf. generally lambda 73, lambda 75, lambda 76, lambda 77, lambda 78, lambda 79, lambda 80.
[1] A standard, reference-book definition of the headword, a neuter noun (see LSJ s.v.) -- which the following quotation perhaps belies: see next note.
[2] Abbreviated from an epigram in the Greek Anthology (6.220.15-16); see more fully under theta 6. For further extracts from this epigram, see epsilon 4078, theta 198, mu 1394, omicron 374, and tau 1167. Dioscorides is writing of the castrato Atys (= the 'Attis' of alpha 3822 and, famously, of Catullus' more effective epyllion, no.63), called a Gallus (devotee of the Phrygian goddess Cybele; gamma 41). He takes refuge in a cave only to find he has been followed by a lion, but he manages to fend off the beast by the noise of his tambour. This instrument -- apparently called a 'babbling', though the term seems inappropriate for a small drum -- and the place of refuge, his qala/mh, he dedicates to the goddess, at least according to the interpretation of Gow and Page, vol. 2, pp. 246-48. Paton, the Loeb translator (vol.1 p.414) regards qala/mai as 'the receptacles in which the organs of these castrated priests were deposited', like the "pao" of eunuchs in Imperial China. For these see the references to Anderson below. This is, however, doubtful, and the cave may imply a 'nook' here.
For 'thank-offering for my life' see generally zeta 112.