δῆλον δὲ ὅτι καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν διττόν τὸ μηδὲ ὅλως ὄν ὅπερ οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε ἔστιν οὔτε ἔσται οἷον σκινδαψὸς καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα
It is clear that non-existence is also ambiguous: absolute non-existence that never was nor is nor will be such as ‘vixen/she-fox’ and the like.
Why is she-fox impossible?
σκινδαψός not σκινδαφός
yes sorry
What a strange word. The LSJ article left me puzzled. Why is it both an instrument and a meaningless word?
That it’s a sort of nonsense word is clear from Galen’s usage, “I don’t care what its name is, call it a σκινδαψός, it doesn’t matter.” ἡμεῖς μὲν τοῦτον ὀνομάζομεν φλέγμα, σὺ δ’ εἰ βούλει κάλει σκινδαψόν. οὕτως ἄρα μοι μέλει τῶν ὀνομάτων οὐδέν.
But where did this “nonsense” meaning come from, exactly? The relationship to the instrument must matter somehow. Here’s a set phrase, that seems to appear from time to time in various forms. Βλίτυρι καὶ σκινδαψός· ταῦτα παραπληρώματα λόγων, εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ παροιμιώδη. Ἰόβας δὲ τὸν σκινδαψὸν ὄργανον λέγει μουσικὸν, τὸ δὲ βλίτυρι χορδῆς μίμημα. I guess the phrase is a real mouthful, as he says, but is there more to it?
The Galen discussion that is quoted in both the LSJ’s articles for βλίτυρι and σκινδαψός unites 3(!) meanings for the word: “complete nonsense”, some instrument, and a slave’s name.
καὶ δὴ λέγω πρῶτον μὲν τὸν ἀναπεπτάμενον σφυγμόν. οὐ γὰρ δήπου δεδυκότα μὲν ἐκείνῳ λέγειν ἔξεστιν, ἀναπεπτάμενον δ’ ἡμῖν οὔ; καὶ νὴ Δί’ ἄλλον νηχόμενον. ἤδη δὲ καὶ γλίσχρον καὶ κραῦρον ἐρῶ καὶ μέλανα καὶ λαμπρὸν καὶ καθαρὸν καὶ θολερὸν καὶ δεινὸν καὶ ἱλαρόν. καί που καὶ βλιτυριζόμενον ἐρῶ σφυγμὸν καὶ σκινδαψιζόμενον, εἰ χρὴ λέγειν ὀνόματα μόνον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ βλίτυρι, φασὶ, καὶ τὸ σκινδαψὸς ἄσημα παντελῶς ἐστι, τὰ δ’ Ἀρχιγένους δῆλα. τί ληρεῖς ἄνθρωπε ἑκὼν, καὶ γὰρ τὸ βλίτυρι κροῦμά τι δηλοῖ καὶ τὸ σκινδαψὸς οὐκ οἰκέτου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὀργάνου τινός ἐστιν ὄνομα. τί δὴ τοῦτο φήσει τις, οἶμαι, πρὸς τοὺς σφυγμούς;
Anyway, I have a theory to explain it: simply that Kock is right to suggest βλίτυρι καὶ σκινδαψός as the end of a comic line. Imagine something like one character responding to some other character’s speech with “that’s blither blather!” “βλίτυρι καὶ σκινδαψός!” That’s all clash and cymbal! From this comic usage would come the proverbial expression and then the secondary nonsense meaning as people generally forgot what a σκινδαψός was, but remembered the phrase. That’s my guess anyway. (But maybe it’s the name of a particular comic οἰκέτης character? Presumably along with βλίτυρι?)