Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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When speaking of hams, they use the two forms κωλῆ and κωλήν. Eupolis, in his Autolycus, says—

The legs and hams (κῳλῆες) out of the soup.

And Euripides, in his Sciron, says—

Nor hams (κωλῆνες) of kids.

But the word κωλῆ is contracted from κωλέα, as συκῆ from συκέα, λεοντῆ from λεοντέα; so κωλῆ from κωλέα. Aristophanes, in his second Plutus, says—

Alas the ham (κωλῆς) which I have just devour'd!

And in his Daitaleis he says—

And the fat hams (κωλαὶ) of tender little pigs
And dainty tit-bits swift to fly.

And in his Storks he says—

The heads of lambs, the hams (κωλὰς) of kids.

And Plato, in his Griffins, says—

Fish, and hams (κωλὰς), and sausages.

And Ameipsias, in his Connus, says—

The ham (κωλῆ) from off the victim, and the ribs,
And the left side o' th' head are usually given.

And Xenophon, in his book on Hunting, says—“The ham (κωλῆ) is fleshy, and the loins moist.” And Xenophanes the Colophonian, in his Elegies, says—

For having sent a ham (κωλῆ) of kid, you won
A mighty leg of carefully fatted bull,
An honourable present for a man,
Whose glory shall pervade all Greece, and never
Cease while the poets and the songs of Greece
Survive in memory and the mouths of men.