Marcianus graecus X, 26 (= 1305) – Mr

Previous descriptions: Mioni (1972, 60–2).

Reproductions: –

Family: e / d

Siglum: Mr

Shelfmark: Marcianus graecus X, 26

Date: End of the 15th century

Format: paper, 300×210 mm, I + 204 ff.

Material: the paper is in very good condition. There are no noticeable material losses.

Binding: the binding is original (15th–16th century).

Watermarks: at ff. 1–22: tongs, I could not find anything similar in the repertories; scales, quite similar to Piccard Waage V 220–25 and dated between 1464 and 1494; in the rest of the manuscrit: scales with a six–pointed star at the top and an M next to them, Briquet 2592 (Brescia 1519, Ferrara 1492–1497), also very similar to Piccard Waage VI 238 (Brescia 1495). It seems to me quite important to note that the first three fascicles (ff. 1–22) do not share the same watermarks as the rest of the manuscript; the copyist is also different (A, see below): he wrote the first 22 folios in an elegant calligraphy the first 22 folios and abruptly stopped at l.5 with the word ὡς, from which B began. In view of this, we cannot be sure that these first three fascicles were written at the same time as the following ones: they may have been written a little earlier and then re-used by other copyists (B, C and D), thus becoming the beginning of the manuscript we now possess.

Scribes: A: ff. 1r–22v, l.5; B: ff. 22v, l.6–151r; C: ff. 156r–198r, l.7; D: ff. 194r (only a marginal note), 198r, l.8–203v.

Annotations: at the end of Pollux’s Onomasticon (f. 151r), scribe B gives praise to the Holy Trinity: δόξα σοι Ἁγία Τριάς ‘Glory to Thee, Holy Trinity’. Two later hands wrote some annotations on ff. Ir, Iv, 110r, 154r, 155v, 176r, 193r, and 204v.    For example, on f. 154r there is an index (πίναξ τοῦδε τοῦ βιβλίου κτλ.), quill exercises containing some sentences in Modern Greek (a prayer, some proverbs) and Italian (‘l’ochio del padron ingrassa il cavalo’), two rough drawings (apparently a serpent and a flower), ‘1725 μαγιου 25’, and a barely legible note in which, following Mioni, I could only make out the Greek surname Λοβέρδος and the words κεφαλονια καὶ ζακινθινας; these names also appear on f. 110r. Some more dates can be found on ff. Ir (27 May 1745; 1760), Iv (20 March 1667), 110r (21 October 1746); 153v (1724); 154r (25 May 1724); and 204v (30 March 1684).

1 (ff. 1r–151r) Pollux, Onomasticon. Title: Ἰούλλιος Πολυδεύκης Κωμώδῳ Καίσαρι χαίρειν. Incipit: παὶ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ. Explicit: καὶ σκαφίδες καὶ (10.130), unfinished. Preceded by the Prefatory EpigramPrefatory epigram (Pollux). It contains all books, but the tenth ends at 10.130: 1 (ff. 1r‒22r), 2 (ff. 22r–45r), 3 (ff. 45r–55v), 4 (ff. 55v–69v), 5 (ff. 69v–79r), 6 (ff. 79r–91r), 7 (ff. 91r–102v), 8 (ff. 102v–118v), 9 (ff. 118v–134r), 10 (ff. 134r–151r).

151v–153r: blank.

153v–154r: some notes by an 18th-century hand (see Annotations).

154v–155v: blank.

2 (ff. 156r–162r) De syntaxi verborum per alphabetum. Title: περὶ συντάξεως τῶν ῥημάτων. Incipit: ἄγαμαι τὸν φίλον καὶ ἄγαμαί σου τὸν τρόπον καὶ ἄγαμαί σε τῆς ἀρετῆς. Explicit: ὠρακιῶ γενικῶ, ὡραΐζω δοτικῇ, ὠφελῶ αἰτιατικῇ. The same text is present in Matr. 4576 (ff. 70r–75v)Matr. 4576 and Matr. 7211 (ff. 16v–38v). See Kopp (1887, 90).

3 (ff. 162r–176r) Constantinus Lascaris, De constructione verborum. Title: παλαιὸν περὶ συντάξεως τινῶν ῥημάτων μεταβατικῶν καὶ ἀμεταβάτων κατὰ στοιχεῖον μέχρι τοῦ μ· ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Λάσκαρις ἐξετέλεσεν ἐκ διαφόρων. incipit: ἀρχὴ τοῦ α: ἀγωνιῶ τὸ κινδυνεύω καὶ τὸ φοβοῦμαι, καὶ ἀγωνίζομαι. Explicit: ὠρίομαι τὸ βοῶ.

4 (f. 176r) Voces animalium. Title: φωναὶ ζῴων. Incipit: βρυχᾶται ἐπὶ λέοντος. Explicit: κακκάζει ἐπὶ ὀρνίθων θηλυκῶν. See Festa (1893), Bancalari (1893), Festa (1895), Bancalari (1896), and Bravo Garcia (1978).

5 (ff. 176v–190r) Maximus Planudes, De verborum syntaxi. Title: τοῦ σοφωτάτου ἀνδρὸς Μαξίμου τοῦ Πλανούδη περὶ τῆς συντάξεως τῶν ῥημάτων· περὶ μεταβατικῶν καὶ ἀμεταβάτων. Incipit: τῶν ῥημάτων τὰ μέν οὐδαμῇ μεταβαίνουσαν εἰς ἕτερον πρόσωπον ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τὴν σύνταξιν ἔχει. Explicit: ἐνδέχεται αὔριον βρέξαι· τουτέστιν ἵνα βρέξῃ ἢ οὔ. Edited in Hermann (1801, 391–417). See Guida (1999, 1–10).

6 (ff. 190r–194r) <Constantinus Harmenopulos> De verbis synonymis. Title: περὶ συνωνύμων ῥημάτων. Incipit: ἀρχὴ τοῦ α. ἀγαπῶ· φιλῶ. ἀσπάζομαι· στέργω ποθῶ ἐρῶ. Explicit: ὠφελῶ· ὀνίνημι λυσιτελῶ συντελῶ. See Guida (1999, 10–34).

7 (ff. 194r–198r) De verbis anomalis per alphabetum. Title: περὶ ἀνομάλων ῥημάτων κατὰ ἀλφάβητον; incipit: ἀρχὴ τοῦ α. ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄζομαι τὸ ξεραίνω, ἀάσθη ἀόριστος πρῶτος παθητικός, explicit: ὠνεοῦμαι· ὁ μέλλων ὠνήσομαι· ὁ παρακείμενος Ἀττικῶς ἐώνημαι ὅθεν ὁ ἐωνημένος· ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀρούω τὸ ὦρσα. At the end of the work (f. 198r) the same scribe (C) added a scholium; one more note was added by an other scribe (D) at the bottom of f. 194r. The same work is present in Matr. 7211Matr. 7211 (ff. 68r–72v) and Vat. gr. 1751Vat. gr. 1751 (ff. 227r-234v); see also Lascaris 1547, 187–215.

8 (f. 198r–v) Polybius Sardianus, De soloecismo. Title: Πολυβίου Σαρδιανοῦ περὶ σολοικισμοῦ. Incipit: σολοικισμός ἐστιν ἡμαρτημένη λέξεως σύνθεσις (§2). Explicit: καθ’ ὑπόθεσιν δὲ ἐν χώρᾳ σολοικισμῶν παρείληπται. Edited in Sandri (2020, 237–45); the manuscript is also briefly described in Sandri (2020, 93).

9 (ff. 198v–199r) Excerpt from <Polybius Sardianus>. Title: τοῦ αὐτοῦ περὶ ἀκυρολογίας. Incipit: ἀκυρολογία ἐστὶ λέξις ἀνέμφατος. Explicit: τὸ δὲ ἑκάτεροι διάφορον. Edited in Villa (2020).

10 (ff. 199r–202v) Iohannes Philoponus, Collectio vocum. Title: τοῦ Φιλοπόνου περὶ τῶν διαφόρως τονουμένων καὶ διάφορα σημαινόντων. Incipit: ἀγέλαιος ὁ ἀμαθής· ἀγελαῖος δὲ ὁ ἐκ τῆς ἀγέλης, ἤγουν ἰδιώτης. Explicit: ὦχρος ὠχρίασις· ὠχρὸς δὲ κύτρινος. Edited in Daly (1983).

11 (ff. 202v–203r) De quarundarum urbium proprietate. Title: ἴδια τινὰ πόλεων. Incipit: Ἀθηναίων τὸ ἄγαν, ἅλις· λωπὸς τὸ ἱμάτιον. Explicit: ἀντικρύ ἐναντίον. Edited in Latte (1925).

12 (f. 203r) On months’ names. Title: περὶ διαφόρων μηνῶν. Incipit: μῆνες Αἰγυπτίων θώθ. Explicit: ἀνθεστηριών· ἐλαφηβολιών.

13 (ff. 203r–v) Etymologies of the names of the Greek months. Title: μῆνες τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ διὰ τί οὕτως ἐκαλοῦντο. Incipit: ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῦ ἔτους παρ’ αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰούνιος. Ἑκατομβαιὼν ἔστιν ὁ πρῶτος. Explicit: Σκιρροφοριὼν ὁ δωδέκατος μὴν οὕτω καλούμενος ἀπὸ Σκίρ{ρ}ας.

The manuscript Marc. gr. X, 26 belonged to the Nani family and was probably acquired by Bernardo or Giacomo NaniGiacomo Nani (DBI 24, 256–258) in the second half of the 18th century in the Ionian Islands, the region of Greece from which most of the Nanis’ Greek collection originated (see M. Zorzi 1987, 309–15; N. Zorzi 2018, 99–101). It is not possible to establish where this manuscript was originally written, but the notes (see Annotations) which can be found (see Annotations) testify with some certainty that the manuscript during the 17th and 18th centuries the manuscript was in a region in which both Greek and Italian were spoken, and the Ionian Islands appear to be the most likely place; Marc. gr. X, 26 is therefore no exception in the Nani Greek manuscripts collection. After Giacomo Nani’s death in 1797, a few months before the fall of the Republic of Venice, the entire collection of Greek manuscripts (which by then had grown to 309 volumes) became part of the Marciana Library, in accordance with the owner’s will.