previous next

47. Divergent plural expressions.

Plural expressions that diverge from English proceed from different concep tions. “πυροί”, wheat (grains), “κριθαί”, barley (corns), “κρέα” (pieces of) meat,ἅλες” (grains of) salt.

ξύλα, πυρούς”, DEM.19.145; Wood, wheat.

DEM.19.145(see above). 19.189: “ποῦ δ᾽ ἅλες”; 19.191: “τοὺς ἅλας”.

PLATO, Conv. 217D:διελεγόμην πόρρω τῶν νυκτῶν” , Till late in the night (watches). Prot. 318 E:λογισμούς” (computations) “τε καὶ ἀστρονομίαν . . . διδάσκοντες”. Rpb. 372 C:ἅλας”. Ibid. 621 B: “μέσας νύκτας γενέσθαι” (so regularly “μέσαι νύκτες”).

XEN. An. 6.4.6:κριθὰς καὶ πυροὺς . . . καὶ μελίνας καὶ σήσαμα κτἑ” . Cyr. 2.2.2:κρέα . . . τρία” . Hell. 3.3.7:ξύλα” .

THUC.4.16.1:δύο χοίνικας . . . ἀλφίτων”. 4.6.22:πυροὺς καὶ πεφρυγμένας κριθάς” . 7.87.1:οἱ . . . ἥλιοι” (Heat of the sun on successive days).

HDT.4.8:ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων”, and so “ἀνατολαί” elsewhere. 7.30: “λίμνην ἐκ τῆς ἅλες γίνονται”.

AR. Pax, 192:τὰ κρέα ταυτί” , and “κρέα” very often in Aristophanes. Av. 622:κριθάς, πυρούς” . Ibid. 626:πυροὺς ὀλίγους” .

EUR. Cycl. 122: “γάλακτι καὶ τυροῖσι” (sc. “ζῶσι”). El. 652: “ἡλίους”, days.

ἐκ μὲν ἐσχάτας
βέβρωκε σάρκας

.

AESCHYL. Eum.254:ὀσμὴ βροτείων αἱμάτων”.

PIND. fr. 168 Bgk.4:σαρκῶν . . . ἐνοπάν”.

HOM. Od. 4.604: “πυροί”, and forms of “πυροί” elsewhere. 9.219 and 225: “τυρῶν”. 11.123 and 23.270: “ἅλεσσι”, but 17.455:σύ γ᾽ ἂν . . . οὐδ᾽ ἅλα δοίης” . 18.77:σάρκες” , and forms of “σάρκες” elsewhere. 22.21:κρέα” , and so forms of “κρέα” often in Iliad and Odyssey.

Il. 5.588: “κονίῃσι”(“ν”), and so regularly, but 23.732 and elsewhere: “κονίῃ”. 23.15: “δεύοντο ψάμαθοι”, and forms of “ψάμαθοι” often in Iliad and Odyssey.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: