e^ d' he^

Greek Learning Greek
1

Hi everybody:
I’ interested in the literal meaning of the locution in the subj., as found, e.g. in Plato, Symp. 206 a3, 205 c4.
The meaning is not a problem (translations are available), but the exact power of the “he^” here (as accented) puzzles me. None of its meanings that I could find in the dictionaries seems to fit.
Many thanks for any suggestions.
Arkadi

2

Hi,

ἦ δ’ ἥ

Literally, this means ‘and said she’:

ἦ - 3rd singular, imperfect, indicative, active of ἠμί. ‘He, she, it was saying or said’.

ἥ - feminine, nominative, singular of the relative pronoun. Seems to function here like personal pronoun, ‘she’.

At least that’s how it seems to me for now.

Cordially,

Paul

3

Thanks! Strangely, this did not occur to me…

4

Is this word frequent in Plato?

5

Yes, it occurs in the same context, but in the first person. Yet. for some irrational reason I took “e^” here to mean “in truth, truly, verily, of a surety” (indeclform), and “d’” to stand for for “de^”.
My apologies for this silly question.