καταριστάω
(Phryn. PS 83.2)

D. General commentary

This entry in the PS is devoted to an expression that conveys the idea of eating beyond measure (for a similar semantic interest, concerning drinking, see entry κατακορής, διακορής). The expression consists in the neuter plural perfect participle κατηριστημένα (A.1), which is glossed with the perfect participle καταβεβρωμένα (‘devoured’). Although the base verb ἀριστάωἀριστάω is typically used in Attic to refer to an early meal (breakfast or lunch), the interpretamentum καταβεβρωμένα, from καταβιβρώσκω (‘to eat up, to devour’), suggests that the meaning of καταριστάω in the locus classicus behind A.1 was likely less specific and denoted the act of consuming any large quantity of food (hence the suggested translation of ‘devoured’; see further below). While καταβιβρώσκω is a frequent verb throughout the entire history of Greek beginning with h.Ap. 127, καταριστάω is a very rare form: we only know, based on Athenaeus’ testimony (B.1), that it was also used by AntiphonAntiphon in his Politicus speech (traditionally attributed to Antiphon ‘the sophist’: see below).

In Antiphon’s fragment (C.1), καταριστάω is used metaphorically to refer to someone who has dissipated his property. Based on the meaning of the simplex ἀριστάω, modern translations tend to propose narrow interpretations of the verb: ‘to squander in breakfasts’ (LSJ s.v.), ‘to squander on lunches’ (Pendrick 2002, 421; Olson 2009, 15), ‘to consume in breakfasts’ (Laks, Most 2016, 87), or simply ‘to squander’ (Gagarin 2002, 101). Given that Athenaeus quotes Antiphon’s fragment out of context within a discussion of various verbs used to denote eating and meals, it is impossible to determine whether Antiphon may have intended such a narrow meaning. On balance, it seems safer to assume that the image πράγματα […] κατηρίστηκεν, while likely alluding to fancy meals and other luxurious activities in which one was likely to dissipate one’s time and money (for the topos, see e.g. Ar. Nu. 416–7), is a looser metaphorMetaphors for the dilapidation of one’s patrimony. Greek often employs verbs meaning ‘to eat’ or ‘to devour’ in this sense (an exhaustive list in Pendrick 2002, 420–1, to which add NT Ev.Luc. 20.47: οἳ κατεσθίουσιν τὰς οἰκίας τῶν χηρῶν ‘those who devour the property of widows’), and similar usages are attested in other languages: for instance, in the Quran (Surah An-Nisa 4.10: ‘those who devour the property of orphans’), in the French engloutir (une somme, un capital) ‘to swallow (a sum, a capital)’, or in the Italian mangiarsi il patrimonio, literally ‘to eat one’s property’, with no implications of actual eating. The interpretation of Antiphon’s passage as a specific reference to debauchery undertaken during the first meal of the day (see translations above) is indebted to Wilamowitz’ (1876, 296–7) influential idea that this fragment targeted Alcibiades, allegedly lambasted for his early-morning drinking habit. This was the cornerstone of Wilamowitz’ identification of Antiphon’s Politicus with the political libel entitled Ἀλκιβιάδου λοιδορίαι attributed to Antiphon of Rhamnous (see Wilamowitz 1876, 295–8, and the overview of the debate in Pendrick 2002, 47–8). Quite apart from the thinness of Wilamowitz’ identification of Alcibiades as the target of this fragment of the Politicus, there is no evidence that Antiphon used καταριστάω in this fragment to refer to a specific meal.

We may only speculate as to Phrynichus’ reasons for devoting an entry of the PS (A.1) to the participle κατηριστημένα. The PS contains another entry (Phryn. PS 39.15–40.10Phryn. PS 39.15–40.10) that starts from ἀκρατίσασθαι ‘to breakfast’, which is glossed with τὸ μικρὸν ἐμφαγεῖν πρὸ τοῦ ἀρίστου ‘to eat a little before the main meal/breakfast’, and goes on to address various Greek and Attic expressions for meals. Perhaps, then, the original PS had a longer entry that also commented on ἀριστάω (the noun ἄριστον is already present in the interpretamentum) and the much rarer καταριστάω? Accepting this scenario means accepting the idea that the epitomeEpitome that is preserved in cod. Par. Coisl. 345Par. Coisl. 345 (or, more likely, its sources) excerpted this original longer entry and divided its material across at least two different entries: Phryn. PS 39.15–40.10, addressing expressions for meals in general, and Phryn. PS 83.2, devoted to the specific use of κατηριστημένα (on the epitome as ‘a further abbreviated version of previously shortened material that was also woven into the Synagoge tradition’ and the possibility that some of its original entries had an onomastic structure, see Cavarzeran, forthcoming; cf. already Kaibel 1899). Like Athenaeus, Phrynichus may have been interested in καταριστάω for its metaphorical meaning: he may have included the verb among the innovative and vivid expressions that are one of his focal points in the lexicon (see entry Phrynichus Atticista, Σοφιστικὴ προπαρασκευή (Praeparatio sophistica)).

The lack of a preserved locus classicus complicates the further assessment of this lemma. As is often the case with unattributed glosses in the PS, this entry was considered as a comic adespoton by Kock (com. adesp. fr. 1032 CAF, accepted by de Borries 1911, 83). This interpretation however remains speculative (Kassel, Austin ad com. adesp. fr. *615, PCG vol. 8, 177, draw attention to the parallel in Antiphon) and, as for many other unattributed PS lemmas assigned to comedy, requires caution (see Pellettieri, forthcoming). Another possibility is that the locus classicus behind this entry of the PS is the same Antiphon’s fragment quoted by Athenaeus (B.1). Given that the form of the verb used in Antiphon is the perfect κατηρίστηκεν (‘he devoured’), the PS might lemmatise κατηριστημένα in the participle in reference to Antiphon’s neuter plural πράγματα (‘the things eaten up’). While unprovable, this hypothesis may receive further support from the fact that elsewhere in the PS, Phrynichus is likely to have relied on Antiphon as a linguistic authority, perhaps because he was the oldest of the ten canonical Attic orators (cf. Phot. Bibl. cod. 158.101b.6–7) and Thucydides’ teacher: consider Phryn. PS 114.18–20Phryn. PS 114.18–20 on τροχισθῆναι ‘to be tortured on the wheel’ (which is likely to lemmatise in the infinitive the participle τροχισθεῖσα of Antiphon 1.20), and Phryn. PS 11.13Phryn. PS 11.13, perhaps indebted to Antiphon 1.9 (see entry ἄπαρνος, ἔξαρνος). Like all other lexicographers, Phrynichus appears to be unaware of the ancient debate surrounding the question of whether the orator Antiphon of Rhamnous and Antiphon ‘the sophist’ were the same person (for an overview of the issue, see Gagarin 2002, 37–52, who is in favour of their shared identity, and Pendrick 2002, 1–22, who argues against it, both with further bibliography). Athenaeus similarly appears to include the Politicus – one of the works traditionally attributed to Antiphon the sophist – in a general corpus Antiphonteum (see Pendrick 2002, 17–8). Antiphon is also quoted several times by Pollux and the Antiatticist (the latter quotes the Politicus in α 36Antiatt. α 36) and once in Moeris (λ 27)Moer. λ 27, all of which confirm his status as an Atticist authority.

The hypothesis that Phrynichus was drawn to the participle κατηριστημένα because of its metaphorical meaning and stylistic interest does not exclude the possibility that he also found the word compelling for morphological reasons. The very rare καταριστάω may be another of the prefixed verbs that he recommends in the PS as more original alternatives to simplicia (for this hypothesis, see Monaco, forthcoming, and entry ἀνέκραγον with a selection of verbs in ἀνα- recommended by Phrynichus for their meaning). Among the entries on verbs in κατα-, a similar case could be Phryn. PS 78.25–6Phryn. PS 78.25–6 on κατεστωμυλμένος <ἄνθρωπος> ‘chattering man (see entry καταστωμύλλομαι), which likely praised the rare καταστωμύλλομαι ‘to chatter’ (two occurrences in Aristophanes, of which Ra. 1160–1 is the locus classicus) as a more vivid synonym of the simplex στωμύλλω.

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

As noted in D., καταριστάω is attested only twice in Ancient Greek (respectively in A.1 and B.1 quoting C.1), likely because of its highly specific meaning. The simplex ἀριστάω is in common use in Byzantine texts (in the present, usually in the form ἀριστέω) as the specific verb meaning ‘to have an early meal, to lunch’, though it does not survive in Medieval Greek. Phrynichus’ interpretamentum, καταβιβρώσκω, remains a very common verb in Byzantine texts, but it equally does not survive in Medieval Greek; the derivation κατάβρωμα ‘food’, registered by Kriaras, LME s.v. and attested in Digenis Akritis (version A – 17th century) 882 is a high-register word perhaps reminiscent of LXX use (the Grottaferrata version (G) has βορά instead). Neither ἀριστάω nor καταβιβρώσκω persists in Standard Modern Greek, although αριστῶ ‘to have breakfast/lunch’ is registered in Tsakonian (see ILNE s.v.), while some derivations from the root of βιβρώσκω are preserved in dialectal forms, such as βρωματίζω ‘to suckle a baby, to give a newborn food for the first time’ (Karpathos, Kasos, Crete, see ILNE s.v.), βρώσις ‘food’ (various dialects, sometimes with more specialised meanings such as ‘salt’ on Cythera), and -βρωτός ‘edible, eaten’ in some compounds (on the last two lemmas, see Andriotis 1974 s.v.).

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

N/A