R. J. Cholmeley, M.A., The Idylls of Theocritus

[142] ξουθαί a frequent epithet of bees, of the nightingale (Aesch. Agam. 1142); of wings (h. hymn Diosc. xiii); of wind (Chaeremon in Athen. 608 D). ξουθὸς ἱππαλεκτρυών, Arist. Birds 800 (parody of Aeschyl.). In all passages but the last the word is best taken of sound--'shrill'--only so can we give it a consistent meaning. With ἱππαλεκτρυών it may be used of colour; φοινικᾶ πτερὰ ἔχων, Schol. Ar. Pax 1177. Dr. Rutherford (on Babrius, 118) writes, 'Originally possessing a precise signification it afterwards dropped out of use till it was taken up by the higher poetry to which the indefiniteness of meaning produced by time had a literary value ... and the late literary schools ended by assigning to the word the meaning which they fancied best suited the two or three classical passages, but to which the word may or may not originally have had any claim.' 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less. ... They've a temper some of them, particularly verbs--they're the proudest--adjectives you can do anything with but not verbs.' With the whole description, cf. Plato, Phaedr. 230 b.

περὶ…ἀμφί cf. Iliad ii. 305 ἀμφὶ περὶ κρήνην: Theocr. xxv. 103, 256: νόσφιν ἄτερ φιλότητος, Hesiod, Scut. 15.