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[105] ὀιζυρώτατον ἄλλων, ‘beyond all others,’ ‘in reference to all others.’ It is unnecessary to describe this idiom as a substitution of the superlative for the comparative. Nor need we explain it as an illogical use of the partitive genitive, nor as an ablatival use of the genitive so strong as to imply ‘away from’ and therefore ‘beyond’ all others, as “ἔξοχον ἄλλων”. The very free use of the genitive with substantives and adjectives, marking different degrees or points of reference, is compatible both with comparatives or superlatives. Compare, for the genitive in this relation with substantives, “ἡ Κέρκυρα τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ Σικελίας καλῶς παράπλου κεῖται” Thuc.1. 36, and with adjectives “νείατος ἄλλων” Hom. Od.15. 108, “σεῖο δ̓, Ἀχιλλεῦ, οὔ τις ἀνὴρ προπάροιθε μακάρτατος” Hom. Od.11. 482, “πόλεμον ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων” Thuc.1. 1, “μεγίστην τῶν πρὸ αὐτῆς” ib. 1. 10, “κάλλιστον φανὲν τῶν προτέρων φάος” Soph. Ant.101.An exact parallel to this use of the genitive with superlatives is found in the phrase “μόνος τῶν ἄλλων”, as “Ὁμήρου μόνου τῶν ἄλλων ῥαψωδοῦνται τὰ ἔπη” Lycurg.184.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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hide References (6 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (6):
    • Homer, Odyssey, 11.482
    • Homer, Odyssey, 15.108
    • Lycurgus, Against Leocrates, 102
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 101
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.1
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.36
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