Herodotus 4.106

Greek Learning Greek
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Recently, in another thread, I pointed out that Finns are not Indo-Europeans. What exactly they are can be found in the Budé edition of Herodotus.

4.106. ἀνδροφάγοι δὲ ἀγριώτατα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἔχουσι ἤθεα, οὔτε δίκην νομίζοντες οὔτε νόμῳ οὐδενὶ χρεώμενοι: νομάδες δὲ εἰσι, ἐσθῆτά τε φορέουσι τῇ Σκυθικῇ ὁμοίην, γλῶσσαν δὲ ἰδίην, ἀνδροφαγέουσι δὲ μοῦνοι τούτων.

In a footnote the editor Legrand notes that according to 4.18, the ἀνδροφάγοι are an ἔθνος ἴδιον καὶ οὐδαμῶς Σκυθικόν and notes “on a supposé que ce pouvait être une population de race finnoise”, “it has been supposed that this might be a population of Finnish stock”.

I’ve got to digest this for a while, along with the rather heavy dinner I just had…

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in another thread, I pointed out that Finns are not Indo-Europeans

No big deal. None of us who speak Indo-European languages today are Indo-Europeans, either.

I’ve got to digest this for a while, along with the rather heavy dinner I just had…

Whom did you have for dinner?

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On a more serious note: it is one of the great rhymes in the Altertumswissenschaft that we have both Budé’s and Hude’s editions of Herodotus.