A.cicala, Cicada plebeia or allied species, a winged insect fond of basking on trees, when the male makes a chirping or clicking noise by means of certain drums or 'tymbals' underneath the wings, whence the joke in Xenarch.14, εἶτ᾽ . . οἱ τέττιγες οὐκ εὐδαίμονες, ὧν ταῖς γυναιξὶν οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν φωνῆς ἔνι; prov., “τέττιγος ἐδράξω πτεροῦ” Archil.143 (v. “συλλαμβάνω” 11.1). This noise is freq. used as a simile for sweet sounds, Il.3.151, Hes.Op.582, Sc.393, Simon.173, 174, etc.; and Plato calls them οἱ Μουσῶν προφῆται, Phdr.262d; but they also became a prov. for garrulity, “λαλεῖν τέττιξ” Aristopho10.7: “τ. πολλοὶ γινόμενοι νοσῶδες τὸ ἔτος σημαίνουσι” Thphr.Sign.54. They were thought to sing continually without food or drink, Ar.Nu. 1360, Pl.Phdr.259c; or on a diet of air and dew, Arist.HA532b13, Theoc.4.16, AP6.120 (Leon.), Anacreont.32, Plu.2.660f. The Greeks ate τέττιγες to whet the appetite, Ath.4.133b, cf. Ar.Frr.51, 569.4, Alex.162.13 (anap.), Anaxandr.41.59 (anap., unless here the τέττιξ ἐνάλιος is meant, v. infr. 11); and as a medical remedy, Dsc. 2.51, Orib.Fr.64.
2. gold ornament worn in the hair (cf. “χρύσειαι δὲ κόρυμβαι ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν τέττιγες ὥς” Asius Fr.Ep.13.5), esp. in early Attica, Th.1.6, Heraclid.Pont. ap. Ath.12.512c; ἀρχαῖα . . καὶ τεττίγων ἀνάμεστα, i.e. full of old-fashioned notions, Ar.Nu.984 (anap.), v. Sch.(980) and cf. τεττιγοφόρας; γυνὴ . . ἔχει τ. ἐπιχρύσους, in a list of votive offerings at Samos, Michel832.51 (iv B.C.).
II. τ. ἐνάλιος a kind of lobster, Arctos ursus, Ael.NA13.26.
