Dear Fellows,
In latin we have the word lanii for butchers. In Greek, there`s no such a word. It seems to me that the Romans ate more flesh than the greek and so had to have a profession specialized in cutting the meat. This is because, i believe, the greeks of Athens conteted themselves with fish and the other ones didnt know how good bovine flesh is.
If, nevertheless, anyone can come with a fact that goes against this theory, I would be pleased to read it.
Thanks.
Someone will certainly know better than me, but the word for someone who cuts meat in Homer is δαιτρός. I think the word is exclusively poetic. But it doesn’t mean the person who slaughters the animal, it’s the person who cuts and serves the meat. In Homer at least slaughtering an animal isn’t a menial task but an important ritual, performed by high-status characters. I really don’t know about Athens.
What about κρεοπώλης?
hi, i think it’s just μάγειρος. i’m getting this from the famous reference in plato that in dividing up classes, we should carve nature at the joints and not just hack anywhere, like a bad carver chopping bits randomly. phaedrus 265e. i looked it up and plato uses μάγειρος there:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=plat.+phaedrus+265e
this encyclopedia entry (nigel wilson, encyc of ancient greece, pg 302, entry “food and drink”) seems to confirm it - see the para beginning “An elaborate dinner…”:
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_TzjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA302
the ancient greek attitude to meat is discussed in a book i read long ago - definitely worth a read, to hear about their obsession with eel etc - Courtesans and fishcakes. I seem to have found the first chapter online:
https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/davidson-courtesans.html
do a search for the word “meat” to see references in the first chapter at least.
cheers, chad
Μάγειρος is the most important word you’re looking for, but it also semantically covers chefs and even, iirc, sacrificers. This is due to the physical handling of meat in Athens. There’s no direct one to one correspondence hence why you also get κρεοπώλης (connotation of meat seller).
Butcher in Latin = carnifex btw more commonly, though there are indeed quite a few productive words from lanio,laniare 's root, I think carnifex was more prevalent.