mrs. socrates

[sinhakumara]

Hi friends ! XANTHIPPE was the famous wife of Socrates. Now since the very first letter of her name is an X (iks), how has her tricky name been traditionally pronounced by the greeks. sinhakumara.

[modus.irrealis]

As [ksan."θi.pi]. The theta and the vowels were different in classical times, but it seems you're more interested in the first letter and in all periods of Greek, that's been pronounced ks.

[BillWood]

I read a short thing about Xanthrippe a while back. Seems she was chiding Socrates about the small about of vitals he was preparing for friends coming over shortly, and he said back to her something like: If they are friends, they will not care, if they are not friends, then I do not care. I hope I did justice to them both : ) Cheers Bill

[Lex]

I read a short thing about Xanthrippe a while back. Seems she was chiding Socrates about the small about of vitals he was preparing for friends coming over shortly, and he said back to her something like: If they are friends, they will not care, if they are not friends, then I do not care. I hope I did justice to them both : ) Cheers Bill

It's a good thing Socrates was able to look at things so philosophically. A normal man would have made a comment about the fact that it is the wife that should prepare the food for guests, not the husband. If Socrates did that with Xanthippe, given her reputation, he probably wouldn't have had to worry about the hemlock.

[sinhakumara]

That was a good one Lex !! But Modus opines that the vowels and theta in XANTHIPPE were different in classical times - I wonder how the name was called out back then - if it affected the phonetics ! sinhakumara.