kw=dist' ?

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swiftnicholas
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kw=dist' ?

Post by swiftnicholas »

In the Hymn to Demeter (13), I came across this phrase: κῶδιστ’ ὀδμῆ. I'm guessing that κῶδιστ’ reflects the joining of καί and ἥδιστα; but where does the omega come from? Is there another word involved?

~Nicholas

GlottalGreekGeek
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Post by GlottalGreekGeek »

What edition of the Demeter hymn are you using? Both Perseus and my Loeb of the Homerica start line 13 as

κῶζ ἥδιστ) ὀδμή

My notes say that κῶζ means " and smelled/was scented", since it is indeed a combination of καί + ὤζε

swiftnicholas
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Post by swiftnicholas »

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was using Richardson's edition; and the phrase is the editor's conjecture. Any ideas what he had in mind?

~Nicholas

swiftnicholas
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Post by swiftnicholas »

Ah, could it be, perhaps, a combination of κῶζ and ἥδιστα?

chad
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Post by chad »

In the Hymn to Demeter (13), I came across this phrase: kw=dist' o)dmh=. I'm guessing that kw=dist' reflects the joining of kai/ and h(/dista; but where does the omega come from? Is there another word involved?
without even looking at the meaning, the form κῶδιστ’ doesn't make sense to me unless i'm having a mental blank which is of course v possible :)

the accent breaks the law of limitation; the only forms i can think of which break that law are some in the attic 2nd decl e.g. ἵλεως.

shouldn't there be a coronis as well, i.e. the breathing mark with a different name where crasis occurs, if it's kai/ + a vowel-initial word?

swiftnicholas
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Post by swiftnicholas »

I double checked to make sure that I had copied it correctly. But I was wrong in saying that it was the editor's conjecture. I looked at the apparatus more closely, and actually it comes from a medieval (15th C.) manuscript. He provides a few conjectures from other editors, so perhaps it's just a mistake in transmission that hasn't been cleared up. Helen Foley uses Richardson's text for her dual language edition, and she doesn't offer any explanation. (I forget how she translates it; I don't have the book with me now.)

I'll be sure to mention if I ever learn anything more about it.

~Nicholas

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