Parisinus graecus 2646 – F

Previous descriptions: Omont (1888, 18).

Reproductions: Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Family: b

Siglum: F

Shelfmark: Parisinus graecus 2646

Date: second half of the 14th century

Format: oriental paper, 212×148 mm; VI + 261 ff.

Material: the quality of the paper is poor, the folios are stained and tarnished, some are torn in the margins; however, there seems to be no loss of text in the Pollux’s section, only in the grammatical treatise on f. 1. The manuscript is mutilated at the beginning and at the end.

Binding: not original.

Watermarks: –

Scribes: the entire manuscript was written by Georgius of CreteGeorgius (of Crete) (RGK II 103 = III 137).

Annotations: –

1 (1r–6v) Epitome of Herodianus’ Περὶ διχρόνων. Very close to the text edited in Egenolff (1880, 354–60): see also Pontani (2020, 168–9). The beginning is missing due to mutilation (and the upper margin of f. 1 was torn out).

2 (ff. 6v–16r) <Aelius Herodianus(?), Περὶ διχρόνων>. No title. Edited in Pontani (2020b).

3 (ff. 16r–19r) Lexicon on Attic prosody. Title: περὶ προσῳδίας. Edited in Sandri (2022b, 26–31).

4 (ff. 19r–v) Lexicon on syllabic quantities. Title: περὶ χρόνων. Edited in Sandri (2022b, 31–5).

5 (ff. 19v–22v) Tripho, De spiritibus. Title: Τρύφωνος περὶ πνευμάτων. Edited in Sandri (2022a).

6 (ff. 22v–261v) Pollux, Onomasticon. No title. Contains books 1 (ff. 22v‒53v), 2 (ff. 53v‒81v), 3 (ff. 81v‒101r), 4 (ff. 101r‒127v), 5 (ff. 128r‒148r), 6 (ff. 148r‒173r), 7 (173r‒199v), 8 (199v‒218v), 9 (ff. 218v‒240r), and 10 (240r‒261v). The manuscript is mutilated, Pollux begins with ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1) but ends at ἓξ κοτύλαι (10.184).

The manuscript probably originated in Crete, where Georgius, its copyist, lived in the second half of the 14th century; he was active in the years 1354–87 (in 1357 he copied a volume in John Chrysostom’s church in Candia). It was later owned by Jean-Jacques de MesmesJean-Jacques de Mesmes (1490–1569) and by his heirs, until his great-granddaughter Louise de MesmesLouise de Mesmes, Duchess of Vivonne (1640–1709) made a gift of 540 manuscripts, including this one, to Jean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683) in 1679. Colbert’s collection was finally sold in 1732 to the French royal library in 1732 (see Jackson 2009, 89–92). F owes its siglum to the name of the Flemish philologist Geraard FalckenburgGeraard Falckenburg (1535-1578), who consulted it (see Bethe 1900–1937 vol. 1, VII), and it is the earliest witness of the b family (Bethe’s II). Unfortunately, as far as can be ascertained, this manuscript has no descendants and, despite its importance, it is difficult to trace its history in the late medieval period and the early Renaissance.