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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    

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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.

Published
Dec. 16, 2021
Accepted
June 23, 2021
Submitted
May 17, 2021
Language
EN
ISBN (PRINT)
978-88-6969-549-0
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-548-3

Keywords: μαχλοσύνη • μάχλος • Aeschylus • Etymology • Sexual meaning • Iliad • Homer • Ancient scholarship

permalink: http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-548-3/032

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.