Warning, this is “ἀκολαστότερον κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν”.
κύω γὰρ, ὦ γυναῖκες. ἀλλ᾿ αἰδοῖ, φίλαι,
ἐν γράμμασι σφῷν τοὔνομ᾿ ἐξερῶ βρέφους.
ὀρθὴ μακρὰ γραμμή ᾿στιν· ἐκ δ᾿ αὐτῆς μέσης
μικρὰ παρεστῶσ᾿ ἑκατέρωθεν ὑπτία.
ἔπειτα κύκλος πόδας ἔχων βραχεῖς δύο.
Athenaeus 454a.
ΨΩ – Dalechamps thought that this was somehow short for ψώα, and therefore “fart”. Is ψάω possible – meaning that he’s rubbing it?
What comes to my mind is ψωλη, a crude word for a penis. Makes sense of κυω in the clue too, I impregnate.
P.S. A crude drawing of a ψωλη (so labeled) is found in a schoolboy drawing in an “indecent proposal” on a papyrus, as I mentioned in a previous post (http://discourse.textkit.com/t/x-rated/12744/4). There are other cognates, all used in similar sexual context: ψωλος, ψωληκυσθος, ψωλων, and (as I proposed in that post) ψωλιζω, ψωλιστης. Attestations are mostly from Attic comedy, the home of dirty words.
—And this quotation is assigned to Callias’ curious “alphabet play,” which featured the Ionic alphabet, officially introduced at Athens in 403 BCE: το αλφα, βητα, γαμμα, δελτα, etc, again in iambic trimeter, vowels in alphabetical order, and syllables βα βε βη βι etc. (just as in dozens of surviving schoolboy exercises on papyrus), all versified in dialogue between a speaker and the chorus of women. ΨΩ will of course have been the last in the series, the culminating item (the climax if you will), and even it wasn’t mimed (as I expect it was) the audience would have had no difficulty deciphering ψω and its meaning.
I thought of including this quote from Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis, 74, in my first post.
Τὰ περὶ τοὺς διδύμους καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν βάλανον σώματα προσαγορεύουσιν αἰδοῖα, διὰ τὸ αἰδούμεθα γυμνῶσαι αὐτά, ἢ καὶ βάλανος, ὅτι βαλάνῳ ἔοικε· ψωλὴ δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἐμφυσᾶσθαι κατὰ τὴν ὄρεξιν τῶν ἀφροδισίων ἢ παρὰ τὸ ψῶ, τὸ ἅπτομαι καὶ κνήθω· κνησμός ἐστι τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς.
This is a nonsense derivation, but it made me wonder if ψῶ ever stood for a specific ψωλὴ-related ἅπτομαι καὶ κνήθω.
which featured the Ionic alphabet, officially introduced at Athens in 403 BCE
This was what got me started on the topic. I was curious why the alphabet poem featured the Ionic alphabet, while being written by a 5th century Athenian. [I imagine that the answer is that this dating is nonsense, along with the theory that it inspired Medea.] Here is Kaibel’s version with the notes.
ὁ δὲ Ἀθηναῖος Καλλίας (ἐζητοῦμεν γὰρ ἔτι πρότερον περὶ αὐτοῦ) μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν γενόμενος τοῖς χρόνοις Στράττιδος ἐποίησε τὴν καλουμένην γραμματικὴν θεωρίαν οὕτω διατάξας. πρόλογος μὲν αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων, ὃν χρὴ λέγειν [ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων] διαιροῦντας κατὰ τὰς παραγραφὰς καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν καταστροφικῶς ποιουμένους εἰς τἄλφα·
<..ἄλφα>, βῆτα, γάμμα, δέλτα, θεοῦ γὰρ εἶ,
ζῆτ᾿, ἦτα, θῆτ᾿, ἰῶτα, κάππα, λάβδα, μῦ,
νῦ, ξεῖ, τὸ οὖ, πεῖ, ῥῶ, τὸ σίγμα, ταῦ, <τὸ> ὖ,
παρὸν φεῖ χεῖ τε τῷ ψεῖ εἰς τὸ ὦ.
- 13 glossam del. Petitus 13 διαιροῦντα A: corr. Schw τὰς πάσασ γραφὰς A: corr. Petitus 15 fort. τὸ ἄλφα 15. 16 δέλτα εἶτα θῆτα θεοῦ γὰρ εἰγε ἰῶτα A: corr. Herm, qui praeterea πάρ᾽ pro γὰρ; θεοῦ γὰρ ἄλφα βῆτα γάμμα δέλτα εἶ Wilam
I don’t quite understand ὃν χρὴ λέγειν διαιροῦντας κατὰ τὰς παραγραφὰς καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν καταστροφικῶς ποιουμένους εἰς τἄλφα. What are the τὰς παραγραφὰς (marginal notes indicating speaker?) and what does it mean that it end by coming back around to ἄλφα?
I’m not really sure how to interpret γὰρ and εἰς in the song itself (although εἶ θεοῦ would apparently be the “Delphic epsilon”.)
Reconstructing from the notes, the version in our manuscripts should be the following, which seems like it could be reconstructed multiple ways. And there would be considerably more latitude if you didn’t stick with the Ionic alphabet.
εἰς τἄλφα, βῆτα, γάμμα, δέλτα εἶτα θῆτα θεοῦ γὰρ εἰγἐ ἰῶτα κάππα, λάμβδα, μῦ, νῦ, ξεῖ, τὸ οὖ, πῖ, ῥῶ, τὸ σίγμα, ταῦ, ὖ, παρὸν φῖ χῖ τε τῷ ψῖ εἰς τὸ ὦ.
Here is a manuscript version:
https://i.imgur.com/Ut3RiL4.png
Link: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_16_c_xxiv_fs001r
Page: f.210v
Doing my best at transcription:
εἰς τἄλφα βῆτα, γάμμα, δέλτα θῆτα· θεοῦ γὰρ, εἴγε ἰῶτα καππά
λάβδα· μῦ· νῦ· ξύ· τὸ οῦ, πῖ· ῥῶ στῖμα· ταῦ· ὖ· φῖ· χῖ· τε τῷ ψῖ εἰς τὸ ὦ μέγα·