Lexicographic entries

αἴθαλος, αἰθάλη
(Phryn. Ecl. 85)

A. Main sources

(1) Phryn. Ecl. 85: αἴθαλος λέγε ἀρσενικῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ αἰθάλη θηλυκῶς.

Say αἴθαλος (‘thick smoke’) in the masculine, but not αἰθάλη in the feminine.

B. Other erudite sources

(1) Hsch. α 1847: αἴθαλος· ἡ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀποφορά. καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ ὀρόφῳ αἰθάλη.

αἴθαλος: [It means] the emanation of fire. And the soot [that settles] on the roof.

(2) Thom.Mag. 10.6–7: ἄσβολος καὶ αἴθαλος οἱ δοκιμώτατοι, οὐκ ἀσβόλη οὐδ’ αἰθάλη.

The most approved [authors say] ἄσβολος (‘soot’) and αἴθαλος, not ἀσβόλη nor αἰθάλη.

C. Loci classici, other relevant texts

(1) Eur. Hec. 910–2:
ἀπὸ δὲ στεφάναν κέκαρ-
σαι πύργων, κατὰ δ’ αἰθάλου
κηλῖδ’ οἰκτροτάταν κέχρωσαι.

You are shorn of your crown of towers and stained most pitiably with the disfiguring mark of smoke. (Transl. Kovacs 1995, 481).

(2) Gal. De simpl. med. temp. et fac. 12.219.7–11 Kühn: καδμεία γίνεται μὲν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς καμίνοις γένεσιν τοῦ χαλκοῦ, τῆς γῆς ὅλης ἐκείνης ἐξ ἧς ὁ χαλκὸς γεννᾶται κατὰ τὴν καμινείαν ἀναπεμπούσης εἰς ὕψος οἷον αἴθαλόν τινα ἢ ἄσβολον, ἢ αἰθάλην γε καὶ ἀσβόλην, ὡς ἂν ἐθέλῃ τις καλεῖν.

Calamine is also generated through the production of bronze in furnaces, when all the powder from which bronze is produced is carried up through the furnace operation as a kind of αἴθαλος (‘thick smoke’) or ἄσβολος (‘soot’), or αἰθάλη and ἀσβόλη, whatever you want to call them.

D. General commentary

In an entry of the Eclogue, Phrynichus (A.1) deals with two different forms of the noun meaning ‘thick smoke’, i.e. αἴθαλος and αἰθάλη. The nouns show the same root as αἶθος (‘burning heat’) and αἴθω (‘to kindle’) with the addition of the suffix -l-. The root is derived from an old PIE verbal root *h₂eid^h-, the zero grade of which, *h₂id^h-, is probably found in ἰθαρός (‘cheerful; pure’) and ἰθαίνω (‘to cheer’); see DELG and EDG s.v. Phrynichus prescribes αἴθαλος as the approved form, whereas he proscribes αἰθάλη, followed by Thomas Magister (B.2). The first attestation of αἴθαλος is in Euripides (C.1); no other attestations in Attic authors are known. This is one of several instances in which Atticist lexicographers (as well as other erudite sources) discuss cases of gender change, often associated with cases of declension metaplasm; see AGP vol. 2, Morphology, forthcoming, and entry ἄσβολος, ἀσβόλη. The presence of both forms as alternatives in Galen (C.2) – cf. also Hesychius (B.1), who uses αἰθάλη as the interpretamentum of αἴθαλος – bears witness to the contemporary debate on this phenomenon, which is also reflected by Phrynichus.

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

N/A

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

N/A

Bibliography

Kovacs, D. (1995). Euripides. Vol. 2: Children of Heracles. Hippolytus. Andromache. Hecuba. Edited and translated by David Kovacs. Cambridge, MA.

CITE THIS

Elisa Nuria Merisio, 'αἴθαλος, αἰθάλη (Phryn. Ecl. 85)', in Olga Tribulato (ed.), Digital Encyclopedia of Atticism. With the assistance of E. N. Merisio.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30687/DEA/2974-8240/2024/03/030