Series | Antiquity Studies
Edited book | ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ ΕΚΤΩΡ
Chapter | Paris’ μαχλοσύνη, a Mistranslated Aeschylean Fragment, and the Meanings of μάχλος (Hom. Il. 24.30, Aesch. fr. 325 Radt)
Paris’ μαχλοσύνη, a Mistranslated Aeschylean Fragment, and the Meanings of μάχλος (Hom. Il. 24.30, Aesch. fr. 325 Radt)
- Albio Cassio - Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia - email
Abstract
An Aeschylean fragment (325 Radt) in which a grapevine is called μάχλος is twice quoted by Eustathius of Thessalonica, who explains μάχλος as meaning ῥεομένη ‘flowing’, in connection with lewdness (καταφέρεια) and specifically μαχλοσύνη ‘feminine sexual arousal’, hapax in Homer (Il. 24.30) but well attested afterwards. In modern times Aeschylean μάχλος has systematically been mistranslated, and the botanical background of ῥεομένη completely ignored. As a matter of fact, both the probable Indo-European etymology of μάχλος and Eustathius’ explanation point to an original meaning ‘wet’, which soon became specialised as a sexual term for vaginal wetness linked to sexual arousal (cf. German läufig). This means that μαχλοσύνη was more specific and disturbing than our ‘lasciviousness’ and helps explain the ancient attempts at getting rid of it at Iliad 24.30.
Submitted: May 17, 2021 | Accepted: June 23, 2021 | Published Dec. 16, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Iliad • Sexual meaning • μαχλοσύνη • Aeschylus • Homer • Etymology • μάχλος • Ancient scholarship
Copyright © 2021 Albio Cassio. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-548-3/032
In limine
-
Ogni epoca ha la sua guerra di Troia
Poesie neogreche, per Ettore - Caterina Carpinato
- Dec. 16, 2021
Poesia esametrica arcaica
- Retour sur l’hymne homérique comme proème : la pragmatique de l’hymne 6 à Aphrodite
- Claude Calame
- Dec. 16, 2021
- A Hesiodic Heldendämmerung: Some Textual Problems and Reconstructions
- Thomas Coward
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Typhoeus and Etna in Hesiod, Pindar, and (Pseudo-)Aeschylus
- Bruno Currie
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Note a frammenti esiodei
- Claudio Meliadò
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Pyrwias Leading the Dance
- David Sider
- Dec. 16, 2021
Lirica
- Theognis’ Unoriginal Didactic Failure
- Henry Spelman
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Fasce e prodigi. Pindaro e l'inno omerico a Hermes
- Maria Cannatà Fera
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Apollon Pythien chez Pindare
- Nadine Le Meur
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Notes on P.Oxy. XXXII 2636 (Commentary to Pindar?)
- Enrico Emanuele Prodi
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Osservazioni in margine a Pind. Pyth. 3.34-37
- Renzo Tosi
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Pind. fr. 321 Sn.-Maehl. delendum
- Stefano Vecchiato
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Bacchylides Playing Tragic
- Theodora A. Hadjimichael
- Dec. 16, 2021
- A Boeotian Poem in PSI X 1174: Some Considerations
- Giovan Battista D’Alessio, Lucia Prauscello
- Dec. 16, 2021
-
The Pocket Pindar
The Antinoupolis Codex and Pindar’s Readership in Graeco-Roman Egypt - Mark de Kreij
- Dec. 16, 2021
Tragedia
- Aesch. Eum. vv. 490-565: studio sull’epiploke e sulle variazioni metrico-ritmiche
- Liana Lomiento
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Fato e maledizione nell’Antigone di Sofocle
- Marco Dorati
- Dec. 16, 2021
Poesia ellenistica tarda
- P.Vindob. G 26768a: Non-Antimachean Thebaid (with Possible Associated Fragments from Other Collections)
- Marco Perale
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Socrates in Love (Herodicus Suppl. Hell. 495)
- Richard Hunter
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Athenaeus and Hellenistic Epigram
- Ewen Bowie
- Dec. 16, 2021
-
Δύνασαι πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐγεῖραι
Cristianizzazione del lessico funerario e del linguaggio epico nella risurrezione di Lazzaro (Cometa, Anth. Pal. 15.40) - Alice Franceschini
- Dec. 16, 2021
Prosa
-
A Forgotten Piece of the Theban Saga?
Reassessing Hec. fr. 33 EGM - Ilaria Andolfi
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Perieci di Cirene
- Stefania De Vido
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Una storia della musica e della lirica greca dalle origini al IV secolo a.C. nel De musica attribuito a Plutarco
- Antonietta Gostoli
- Dec. 16, 2021
- À l’arrivée de Molon : sur un calembour mécompris chez Strabon (14.2.13 C655)
- Aude Cohen-Skalli
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Rewriting Homer: Dictys, Septimius and the (Re-)shaping of the Trojan War Material
- Sara Kaczko
- Dec. 16, 2021
Poesia latina
- A Night in Cyprus (Verg. Aen. 1.657-697)
- Alessandro Barchiesi
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Ovid and the Ass (Fast. 1.391-440, 6.319-46)
- Myrto Garani
- Dec. 16, 2021
- L’epitafio di Platone Hic iacet ille Plato… (CLE 1395 = ICVRII 442, n. 152)
- Paolo Mastandrea
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Un cavallo nell’Elisio (Auson. Epigr. 7 Green)
- Luca Mondin
- Dec. 16, 2021
Linguistica e storia degli studi
- Il cerilo di Alcmane tra Aristofane, Antigono, Eufronio e Didimo
- Federica Benuzzi
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Paris’ μαχλοσύνη, a Mistranslated Aeschylean Fragment, and the Meanings of μάχλος (Hom. Il. 24.30, Aesch. fr. 325 Radt)
- Albio Cassio
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Forgotten Scholarship: Gustav Adolf Schöll, Herodotus, and Greek Oracular Poetry
- Maurizio Giangiulio
- Dec. 16, 2021
- Solo una cantina buia? Alcune riflessioni sulla magia
- Giulio Guidorizzi
- Dec. 16, 2021
-
ἀφθόνητος αἶνος
Su tre lemmi pindarici dell’Antiatticista - Olga Tribulato
- Dec. 16, 2021
A mo’ di conclusione
- The Sublime in Motion: Longinus, Freud, and Embedded Metaphors
- Alessandro Schiesaro
- Dec. 16, 2021
| DC Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
dc.identifier |
ECF_chapter_6556 |
|
dc.contributor.author |
Cassio Albio |
|
dc.title |
Paris’ μαχλοσύνη, a Mistranslated Aeschylean Fragment, and the Meanings of μάχλος (Hom. Il. 24.30, Aesch. fr. 325 Radt) |
|
dc.type |
Chapter |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
|
dc.description.abstract |
An Aeschylean fragment (325 Radt) in which a grapevine is called μάχλος is twice quoted by Eustathius of Thessalonica, who explains μάχλος as meaning ῥεομένη ‘flowing’, in connection with lewdness (καταφέρεια) and specifically μαχλοσύνη ‘feminine sexual arousal’, hapax in Homer (Il. 24.30) but well attested afterwards. In modern times Aeschylean μάχλος has systematically been mistranslated, and the botanical background of ῥεομένη completely ignored. As a matter of fact, both the probable Indo-European etymology of μάχλος and Eustathius’ explanation point to an original meaning ‘wet’, which soon became specialised as a sexual term for vaginal wetness linked to sexual arousal (cf. German läufig). This means that μαχλοσύνη was more specific and disturbing than our ‘lasciviousness’ and helps explain the ancient attempts at getting rid of it at Iliad 24.30. |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Antiquity Studies |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Filologia e letteratura |
|
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing, Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari |
|
dc.issued |
2021-12-16 |
|
dc.dateAccepted |
2021-06-23 |
|
dc.dateSubmitted |
2021-05-17 |
|
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-549-0/paris-a-mistranslated-aeschylean-fragment-and-the/ |
|
dc.identifier.doi |
10.30687/978-88-6969-548-3/032 |
|
dc.identifier.issn |
2610-8828 |
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2610-9344 |
|
dc.identifier.isbn |
978-88-6969-549-0 |
|
dc.identifier.eisbn |
978-88-6969-548-3 |
|
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
|
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
|
item.fulltext |
with fulltext |
|
item.grantfulltext |
open |
|
dc.peer-review |
no |
|
dc.subject |
Aeschylus |
|
dc.subject |
Aeschylus |
|
dc.subject |
Ancient scholarship |
|
dc.subject |
Ancient scholarship |
|
dc.subject |
Etymology |
|
dc.subject |
Etymology |
|
dc.subject |
Homer |
|
dc.subject |
Homer |
|
dc.subject |
Iliad |
|
dc.subject |
Iliad |
|
dc.subject |
Sexual meaning |
|
dc.subject |
Sexual meaning |
|
dc.subject |
μάχλος |
|
dc.subject |
μάχλος |
|
dc.subject |
μαχλοσύνη |
|
dc.subject |
μαχλοσύνη |
| Download data |
-
file_download 18
-
search 193
-
format_quote 0
