θάττων, ταχίων
(Phryn. Ecl. 52, Moer. θ 18, Moer. τ 7, [Hdn.] Philet. 18, Thom.Mag. 176.10–2)

D. General commentary

Phrynichus (A.1), Moeris (A.2, A.3), the Philetaerus (A.4), and Thomas Magister (A.5) prescribe the form θᾶττον instead of τάχιον as the comparative of the adjective ταχύς, -εῖα, -ύ (‘quick’). With the exception of Thomas Magister (A.5), all lexicographical and grammatical sources discussing the two comparatives of ταχύς (see also B.) deal exclusively with the adverbial neuter form. This is, in fact, by far the most common usage of both comparatives throughout Greek literature, with the occurrences in case, number, and gender other than the singular neuter accounting for only a small fraction of the total attestations (θᾶττον occurs 5453 times in the TLG, while the rest of the paradigm amounts to just 349 occurrences; similarly, in the case of τάχιον, the ratio is 1490x to 64x; of course, these figures also include adjectival attestations of the neuter singular, but those are numerically very limited compared with its widespread adverbial use).

The etymology of the adjective ταχύς remains debated to this day (for an overview, see de Lamberterie 1990, 584–90; according to Barber 2013, 162–4, both *d^hH₂g^h-u- or *d^hn̥g^h-u- are possible). The adjective exhibits two comparative forms with the primary suffix -ίων/-ιον (from *-is-on; on this type of comparative, see entries βελτίους, βελτίονες; βράχιστος, βραχύτατος, and ἡδίων): an older form, θάσσων (Att. θάττων; on the disputed length of the α – a question apparently overlooked by the Atticists – see Vessella 2007, Barber 2013, 162–4, and entry ἡδίων), and a more recent, analogicalAnalogy one, ταχίων (a secondary comparative ταχύτερος is also attested from Herodotus onwards, cf. e.g. Hdt. 3.65.10). The antiquity of θάσσων is shown by the fact that the form preserves the old root-initial aspirate, whereas the comparative suffix ‘deaspirated the root-final consonant at an earlier stage, so θάσσων must have been formed before the operation of Grassmann’s Law’ (Barber 2013, 162), whose effects are visible in the positive ταχύς.

The literary attestations reflect the differing chronology of θάσσων and ταχίων: the former occurs already in Homer (25x, e.g. C.1), whereas the latter is attested only twice in the Hippocratic corpus (Mul. 1.26–8 = 8.12.8–10 Littré, C.4 – on the complex chronology of which, see Dean-Jones 2018, 247–8 – and Dent. 30 = 8.548.14–5 Littré), and then only in Post-classical Greek (e.g. Diodorus Siculus 5x, Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6x, New Testament 5x, Flavius Josephus 20x, Plutarch 18x; on the disputed occurrence in Men. fr. 296.16, cf. AGP vol. 1, 276). The Attic form θάττων first appears in the Homeric hymn to Hermes (212 = C.2, 255) and is standard in classical prose and poetry (e.g. Aristophanes 17x, Plato 30x), the -ττ- spelling thereafter becoming by far the most common throughout Greek literature: the neuter singular θᾶττον alone has more than 5000 TLG attestations, while θᾶσσον has a little under 500. As mentioned above, in all these cases (as well as in the documentary occurrences noted below) the overwhelming majority of attestations concern the neuter singular (i.e. θᾶσσον/θᾶττον and τάχιον), owing to its widespread use as an adverb meaning ‘sooner, earlier’ (see LSJ s.v. ταχύς). EpigraphicalInscriptions attestations of θάσσων are mainly found in metrical texts (see e.g. CIRB 121.3 [Pantikapaion, Northern Black Sea, ca. 50 BCE]), while θάττων occurs occasionally in prose inscriptions (see e.g. IG 4²,1.126.17 [Epidauros, after 117 CE]). Remarkably, a private letter on a lead tablet from the Northern Black Sea, dating from the 5th century BCE (C.3), preserves the earliest attestation of ταχίων (again in the adverbial neuter τάχιον), showing that the analogical comparative was already in use in non-literary language at an early stage in the history of Greek (on the rather obscure content of this letter, see Vinogradov 1999, 165–6). In papyriPapyri, ταχίων is the prevalent form, while attestations of θάσσων and θάττων are limited to literary texts, except for a few private and official letters, with an almost equal distribution between the spellings with -σσ- and -ττ-: see P.Ryl. 4.565.1 θᾶσσον (= TM 2421) [Philadelphia, Arsinoites, 249 BCE], O.Krok. 1.41.44 θᾶσσον (= TM 88630) and 1.42.13 θᾶσσον (= TM 88631) [109 CE], P.Tebt. 2.451.10 θᾶττον (= TM 31370) [3rd century CE], P.Oxy. 17.2104.8 θᾶτ[τον] (= TM 61407) [after 222 CE], P.Vindob. Tandem 2.5 θᾶττον (= TM 15456) [238-244 CE], and P.Oxy. 1.122.6 θᾶττον (= TM 31348) [3rd–4th century CE]. To these, one should also add two 4th-century CE magical papyri, PGM 2.88 (= TM    60673) and PGM 4.201, 1468 (= TM 64343). For a comprehensive discussion of the papyrological evidence, see Monaco (2025), who takes θᾶττον as a case study of the influence of Atticistic prescriptions on non-literary papyri.

While the documentary evidence suggests that ταχίων eventually replaced θάσσων/θάττων in non-literary texts, such a replacement never occurred in the literary language, where the latter – primarily in the Attic spelling with -ττ- (cf. above) – remained the most common form throughout the post-classical period (with some imperial authors, such as Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and Appian, alternating between the two spellings, showing varying degrees of preference for one or the other) and up until Byzantine Greek (see E.). Nevertheless, Phrynichus (A.1) appears to have felt the need to warn the users of his lexicon against the analogical form τάχιον and to prescribe the ancient θᾶττον, in light of its indisputable Attic pedigree (as an adverbial neuter, it occurs e.g. 17x in Aristophanes, 18x in Plato, and 11x in Demosthenes), stating that ‘the Greeks’ (Ἕλληνες) do not use τάχιον. The comparison between A.1 and Moeris’ entries on τάχιον and θᾶττον (A.2, A.3) clearly illustrates the different meanings of the label Ἕλληνες in the two lexicographers. In A.1 Ἕλληνες refers to Phrynichus’ cultured contemporaries who (should) write in correct – i.e. Attic – Greek (and thus use θᾶττον): this use of the label Ἕλληνες is also attested in other entries of the Eclogue, e.g. in Ecl. 228Phryn. Ecl. 228, where Phrynichus criticises Favorinus, calling him ὁ πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων δόξας εἶναι, ‘the one who seems to be the first of the Greeks’ (i.e. ‘of contemporary educated Greeks’), as well as in entries in which the lexicographer wonders how unapproved words entered εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων φωνήν (‘into the language of cultured Greeks’; cf. Ecl. 73Phryn. Ecl. 73, Ecl. 246Phryn. Ecl. 246, Ecl. 362Phryn. Ecl. 362, on which see entry στηθύνιον, στηθίδιον, Ecl. 366Phryn. Ecl. 366, Ecl. 394Phryn. Ecl. 394, on which see entry γῦρος). In A.2, by contrast, Ἕλληνες denotes the users of koine Greek (who employ the rejected form τάχιον), as opposed to those who use correct Attic (and thus employ the preferred form θᾶττον). On a more general level, however, the meaning of Ἕλληνες in Moeris’ lexicon is not always clear-cut (for a detailed discussion, see entry Moeris, Ἀττικιστής). In the Philetaerus (A.4), the prescription of θᾶττον against τάχιον is part of a longer entry dealing with several other pairs of comparative forms, in which the preferred variant changes according to the adjective. In the case of βραδύς (‘slow’), the lexicon prescribes the secondary comparative βραδύτερον (‘more slowly’; e.g. Xenophon 2x, Plato 7x) instead of the corresponding primary form βράδιον (attested once in Hesiod and then only in Post-classical Greek, cf. entry βράδιον, βραδύτερον). Conversely, in the case of αἰσχρός (‘shameful’) and κακός (‘bad’), the primary comparatives αἴσχιον (‘more shamefully’; e.g. Xenophon 7x, Plato 26x) and κάκιον (‘worse’; e.g. Xenophon 12x, Plato 23x) are preferred to the secondary αἰσχρότερον (only in Post-classical Greek) and κακώτερον (almost exclusively poetic).

Later lexicographical sources (B.1, B.2, B.3, B.5) explain θᾶττον by τάχιον, which indicates that the former continued to be perceived as a literary form (much like the Homeric θᾶσσον, cf. Orio 32.22–4; Hsch. θ 124; Hsch. θ 125; Hsch. θ 129), whereas τάχιον was likely the more common option in non-literary usage.

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

Both θᾶττον and τάχιον are continuously attested up to Early Modern Greek, with θᾶσσον surviving almost exclusively as a residual form (primarily in grammatical texts dealing with Homeric language) and the secondary comparative ταχύτερος, -α, -ον being gradually employed with increasing frequency, eventually surpassing θᾶττον – though not τάχιον – in number of attestations in Early Modern Greek literature.

θᾶττον is by far the most frequent form throughout the Byzantine age, whereas τάχιον accounts for between one third and one half as many attestations, depending on the period. High-register authors often use both forms, although with a clear preference for θᾶττον (e.g. Theodorus Studites: θᾶττον 69x, τάχιον 10x; Constantinus VII Porphyrogenitus: θᾶττον 35x, τάχιον 12x; Anna Comnene: θᾶττον 36x, τάχιον 8x; Nicephorus Blemmydes θᾶττον 12x, τάχιον 3x).

Meanwhile, vernacular texts tend to use τάχιον more frequently (e.g. Digenis Akritis: θᾶττον 3x, τάχιον 15x). From the 14th century onwards, some of authors (especially those from Crete, e.g. Stephanus Sachlices 2x, Georgius Chortatzes 5x, Vincentius Cornarus 18x) also attest to the use of the temporal adverb ταχιά in the sense of ‘early, soon’ (also ἀποταχιά; cf. Kriaras, LME s.v.), which remains in use in Modern Greek (cf. LKN s.v.). For other adverbial expressions denoting time and speed in Medieval Greek, see CGMEMG vol. 2, 837–8. Modern Greek likewise employs the comparative ταχύτερος (cf. above), also as an adverb, ταχύτερο, alternative to πιο γρήγορα ‘more quickly’.

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

N/A