previous next

[108] ἀλείατα, the later “ἄλευρα”, ‘wheaten flour,’ ἄλφιτα being of barley: cp. Plat. Rep.372Bἐκ μὲν τῶν κριθῶν ἄλφιτα σκευαζόμενοι, ἐκ δὲ τῶν πυρῶν ἄλευρα”: also Arist. Probl. 1. 36, where it is said to be an argument for “πτισάνη” of wheat as compared with barley water “ὅτι πολὺ εὐχρούστεροι οἱ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἀλεύρων ἐργασίαν τὴν τῶν ἀλφίτων”. In this case, however, the grain was all wheat (l. 109): while “ἄλφιτα” is much commoner than “ἀλείατα” (only mentioned here in Homer). Probably the original distinction was one between meal (“ἄλφιτα”) and flour (“ἀλείατα”, as being more ground): but practically the ‘meal’ was usually of barley, and the ‘flour’ of wheat.

The form ἀλείατα is a metrical lengthening of “ἀλέατα” (Schulze, Quaest. Ep. p. 226).

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 References (1 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (1):
    • Plato, Republic, 372b
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: