PURA. Purism In Antiquity: Theories Of Language in Greek Atticist Lexica and their Legacy

Lexicographic entries

βράχιστος, βραχύτατος
(Antiatt. β 27)

A. Main sources

(1) Antiatt. β 27 (= Phot. β 265): βράχιστον· <ἀντὶ τοῦ> βραχύτατον. Σοφοκλῆς Δανάῃ.

<ἀντὶ τοῦ> added by Valente based on Photius | Δανάῃ is omitted in Photius.

βράχιστον (‘shortest’): <In place of> βραχύτατον. Sophocles in the Danae (fr. 169 = C.3).


B. Other erudite sources

(1) Philox.Gramm. fr. *350b: τέρπνιστος· πᾶν ὄνομα εἰς ων λῆγον καθαρὸν συγκριτικὸν τοῦ ἰδίου πρωτοτύπου μιᾷ συλλαβῇ πλεονάζει, οἷον ταχὺς ταχίων τάχιστος, κακὸς κακίων κάκιστος, βραδὺς βραδίων βράδιστος, ἐλαχὺς ἐλαχίων ἐλάχιστος, τερπνὸς τερπνίων τέρπνιστος· Καλλίμαχος· ‘τέρπνιστοι δὲ τοκεῦσι τόθ’ υἱέες’. ὠκὺς ὠκίων ὤκιστος, γλυκὺς γλυκίων γλύκιστος, πρέσβυς πρεσβίων πρέσβιστος, ‘πρέσβιστον ἄστρων νυκτὸς ὀφθαλμὸς πρέπει’ Αἰσχύλος. βραχὺς βραχίων βράχιστος, λάλος λαλίων λάλιστος λαλίστατος, ψευδὴς ψευδίων ψεύδιστος ψευδίστατος, κλέπτης κλέπτιστος κλεπτίστατος. οὕτως οὖν καὶ καλὸς καλίων καὶ πλεονασμῷ ἑτέρου λ καλλίων κάλλιστος.

τέρπνιστος (‘most delightful’): Any comparative that ends in -ων preceded by a vowel is longer than its base word by one syllable, like ταχύς (‘quick’), ταχίων (‘quicker’), τάχιστος (‘quickest’), κακός (‘bad’), κακίων (‘worse’), κάκιστος (‘worst’), βραδύς (‘slow’), βραδίων (‘slower’), βράδιστος (‘slowest’), ἐλαχύς (‘small’), ἐλαχίων (‘smaller’), ἐλάχιστος (‘smallest’), τερπνός (‘delightful’), τερπνίων (‘more delightful’), τέρπνιστος (‘most delightful’). Callimachus (fr. 536 = C.5): ‘there, the sons, most delightful for the parents’. ὠκύς (‘swift’), ὠκίων (‘swifter’), ὤκιστος (‘swiftest’), γλυκύς (‘sweet’), γλυκίων (‘sweeter’), γλύκιστος (‘sweetest’), πρέσβυς (‘old’), πρεσβίων (‘older’), πρέσβιστος (‘oldest’). ‘The greatest of the stars, the eye of night, shines’. Aeschylus (Sept. 390 = C.2). βραχύς (‘short’), βραχίων (‘shorter’), βράχιστος (‘shortest’), λάλος (‘loquacious’), λαλίων (‘more loquacious’), λάλιστος (‘most loquacious’), λαλίστατος (‘most loquacious’), ψευδής (‘false’), ψευδίων (‘falser’), ψεύδιστος (‘falsest’), ψευδίστατος (‘falsest’), κλέπτης (‘dishonest’), κλέπτιστος (‘most dishonest’), κλεπτίστατος (‘most dishonest’).


(2) Hsch. β 1074: βράχιστον· ἐλάχιστον.

βράχιστον: Smallest.


(3) Hsch. β 1075: βραχίων· βραχύτατος.

βραχίων (‘shorter’): Shortest.


C. Loci classici, other relevant texts

(1) Pi. I. 6.58−9:
            τὸν Ἀργείων τρόπον
εἰρήσεταί που κἀν βραχίστοις.

In the Argive manner it will be stated, somehow, in the briefest terms. (Transl. Race 1997, 193, adapted).


(2) Aesch. Sept. 389−90:
λαμπρὰ δὲ πανσέληνος ἐν μέσωι σάκει,
πρέσβιστον ἄστρων, νυκτὸς ὀφθαλμός, πρέπει.

Conspicuous in the centre of the shield is a brilliant full moon, the greatest of the stars, the eye of night. (Transl. Sommerstein 2009, 193).


(3) Soph. fr. 169 = Antiatt. β 27 re. βράχιστον (A.1).

(4) Ar. Lys. 715:
βινητιῶμεν, ᾗ βράχιστον τοῦ λόγου.

In short, we want to fuck.


(5) Call. fr. 536 Pfeiffer:
τέρπνιστοι δὲ τοκεῦσι τόθ’ υἱέες.

There, the sons, most pleasant to the parents.


(6) Ael. NA 1.18: ὁ βοῦς ὁ θαλάττιος ἐν πηλῷ τίκτεται, καὶ ἔστιν ἐξ ὠδίνων βραχύτατος, γίνεται δὲ ἐκ τοῦ βραχίστου μέγιστος.

βραχύτατος codd., retained by García Valdéz, Llera Fueyo, Rodríguez-Noriega Guillén (2009, 10) : βράχιστος Hercher (1864, 13), followed by Scholfield (1958, 36).

The Horned Ray is born in the mud, and though at the time of birth it is very small, it grows from that size to be enormous. (Transl. Scholfield 1958, 37).


D. General commentary

In light of a verse from Sophocles’ Danae (C.3), the Antiatticist (A.1) identifies the rare form βράχιστος as the preferable superlative of βραχύς (‘short’) in place of the more common βραχύτατος. Atticist lexicography in general devoted much attention to comparatives and superlatives (see, e.g., entries ἀμεινότερος, ῥᾳότερος, ἀγαθώτερος, ἀγαθώτατος, and μειζόνως; further entries are referenced below. For a comprehensive discussion, cf. AGP vol. 2, Nominal Morphology).

Ancient Greek, like Sanskrit and Slavic, presents ‘two sets of comparative and superlative morphemes, one unproductive (inherited IE comparative *-yos- and superlative *-is(-)te/o-), and one productive (innovative comparative Gk. -τερ-ε/ο-, Sanskrit -tara- and superlative Gk. -τατ-ε/ο-, Sanskrit -tama-)’ (Bozzone 2016, 18). The endings of the first type are conventionally known as ‘primary’ endings, are attached directly to the root, and are typical of old adjectives deriving from roots that participate in the so-called ‘Caland system’ (on this system and its relationship to the primary comparative morphemes, see Rau 2014). In Greek, the primary comparative actually presents two formants: the s-stem – attested (already in Mycenaean) in the accusative singular of masculine and feminine forms and in the nominative and accusative plural of masculine and neuter forms – and the n-stem -(ι)ων/-(ι)ον (for a detailed discussion accompanied by the relevant bibliography, see the entry βελτίους, βελτίονες). The roots pertaining to the so-called ‘Caland system’ ‘all belong to the most basic semantic types pertaining to adjectives crosslinguistically; these are […] the semantic types of dimension, age, value, and color’ (Bozzone 2016, 18). The adjective βραχύς – the superlative of which is discussed in A.1 – is indeed an adjective of dimension, meaning ‘short’. βραχύς (like most Greek adjectives in -ύς, -εῖα, -ύ) originally formed its comparative and superlative forms with the primary morphemes but subsequently developed a parallel set of comparative and superlative forms that were based on the secondary suffixes -τερ-ε/ο- and -τατ-ε/ο-: the secondary forms became standard, but the survival of some archaic primary comparative and superlative forms appears to have caused confusion among ancient scholars. In particular, a debate arose in relation to the comparative form βράσσων (attested only in Il. 10.226) on the one hand and the noun βραχίωνβραχίων (meaning ‘arm’ – cf. lat. brachium), on the other. Some grammarians (e.g., Poll. 2.138Poll. 2.138) regarded the latter as originally deriving from the comparative of βραχύς (this is also mentioned also in B.1 and Β.3; see Seiler 1950, 43; Barber 2013, 151. For an analysis of the ancient discussion of these forms, see Dettori, Pellettieri 2020, 112−4).

The superlative βράχιστος is wholly absent from documentary evidence and is only scantily attested in literary texts, while βραχύτατος is found throughout Greek literature and also has numerous attestations in papyri. From a chronological perspective, βράχιστος and βραχύτατος are concurrent forms that both first appeared in the 5th century BCE. However, while βραχύτατος is extremely widespread, early attestations of βράχιστος are limited to Pindar (C.1), Sophocles (C.3, Ant. 1327; OC 1115), and Aristophanes (C.4). Aside from C.3 (the context of which is now lost), in the four remaining cases, βράχιστος has the temporal meaning ‘briefest’, ‘quickest’: more specifically, C.1 refers to the Argives’ proverbial briefness (see e.g. Privitera 2009, 211); similarly, in C.4 and Soph. OC 1115 the adjective relates to brevity in speech while in the line from Antigone (which has a clear sententious tone: see Kamerbeek 1978, 209−10; Griffith 1999, 353) the reference is to how difficulties are more easily confronted when they pass quickly. The Aristophanic occurrence (C.4) derives from a passage that imitates a tragic stichomythia and is characterised by typically poetic/tragic terminology (see e.g. Henderson 1987, 163−4, Landfester 2019, 163). Therefore, in light of the context of C.4 and of the other occurrences, one may tentatively speculate that Attic speakers of the 5th century BCE perceived the form βράχιστος as belonging to a poeticPoetic language and solemn register. However, the available evidence in this respect is limited, and we cannot reasonably discount the possibility that βράχιστος served simply as a metrically convenient three-syllable equivalent to βραχύτατος. βράχιστος essentially disappears after Aristophanes, only to resurface in the imperial period with Aelian (see below).

Erudite discussion of βράχιστος and βραχύτατος is remarkably limited. The series βραχύς–βραχίων–βράχιστος likely occurred in Philoxenus’ work On Comparatives (B.1), of which only a few fragments survive (frr. 331–53). The entry that Theodoridis (1976, 255–6) identifies as deriving from Philoxenus is EM 753.15−29 (the same content, in abbreviated form, is found in Et.Gen. B s.v. τέρπνιστος = Philox.Gramm. fr. *350a). The ascription to Philoxenus is highly plausible, given the similarity between this entry and Et.Gen. AB s.v. γλύκιστος, which the lexicon attributes explicitly to Philoxenus’ Περὶ συγκριτικῶν (fr. 335). It is worth noting that another entry attributed to Philoxenus specifically identifies the superlatives in -ίστος as Attic (see fr. *337). The Antiatticist’s defence of βράχιστος (A.1) relies on a lost attestation from Sophocles’ Danae (C.3, the lexicon’s interest in comparatives and superlatives emerges also from other entries, see entry ἀφθονέστερον, ἀρχαιέστερον and the references therein). Given that the occurrences of βράχιστος are limited to Pindar, Sophocles, and a potentially paratragic passage by Aristophanes (see above), it is unsurprising that the form was disregarded (or even – one might speculate – openly opposed) by stricter Atticists on the grounds that it was perceived either as belonging to tragic languageTragic language (Atticists are indeed notoriously circumspect about the language of tragedy) or simply as too rare and obsolete: as far as comparatives are concerned, the stricter Atticists’ preference for the secondary formations in -ύτερος is attested multiple times (see e.g. Phryn. Ecl. 71Phryn. Ecl. 71, 264Phryn. Ecl. 264, [Hdn.] Philet. 18[Hdn.] Philet. 18). The fact that ἔχθιστος, ‘most hateful’ (which is amply attested throughout tragedy) was instead prescribed by Moeris (ε 2)Moer. ε 2 against ἐχθρότατος is easily explained in view of the former’s numerous occurrences in Attic prose (Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, the orators; see ἐχθροτέρως, ἐπιτηδειοτέρως). Turning to late-antique and Byzantine erudition, the form βράχιστος occurs in two consecutive entries in Hesychius (B.2, B.3), which appear to betray some degree of confusion or overlap as a consequence of epitomisation. Moreover, Phot. β 265 is clearly drawn from the Antiatticist (Α.1), although the omission of the play’s title Δανάη in Photius (see the apparatus of A.1) might be attributed with equal probability either to the textual tradition of his lexicon or to the textual tradition of the common ancestor of both Photius’ lexicon and the only extant manuscript of the Antiatticist: cod. Par. Coisl. 345Par. Coisl. 345 (cf. Valente 2015, 26 n. 159; more generally, on Photius’ dependence on a fuller version of the Antiatticist than the one preserved in the Coislinianus, see Valente 2015, 25–9). Finally, in the late Byzantine period, Planudes’ Grammatica (73.25–74.6) lists both βραχύτατος and βράχιστος as correct superlatives of βραχύς.

Despite the Antiatticist’s defence of βράχιστος, this superlative survives only in Aelian (on his use of Attic poetic terms, see Schmid, Atticismus vol. 2, 178−228). The author employs it seven times, invariably in the sense of ‘smallest, tiniest’ (NA 1.18 = C.6, 2.13, 4.16, 8.12, 9.24, 9.58, 9.59; see also the corresponding passages in Constantinus VII Porphyrogenitus’ zoological sylloge, Epit. 2.109, 225). C.6 is particularly interesting given that both forms of the superlative occur almost in succession (at least in the form transmitted by the manuscripts, though some editors would replace transmitted βραχύτατος with βράχιστος: see the critical apparatus of C.6). Aside from Aelian, βράχιστος occurs once in Porphyrius (ad Il. 2.408.7) and once in Oribasius (Collectionum medicarum reliquiae 8.32.7). It is more widely employed during the Byzantine period (see E.).

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

Although βραχύτατος undoubtedly remains the standard form, βράχιστος persists throughout the Byzantine period and is attested as late as the 15th century (Apost. 10.89). Among the authors who employ it more often are Zonaras (13x), John Tzetzes (10x), and the late-Byzantine chronicler Ephraem of Aenus (8x). More generally, superlatives in -ιστος survive into Medieval and Early Modern Greek (especially in forms such as κάκιστος, ‘worst’, κάλλιστος, ‘most beautiful’, and μέγιστος, ‘biggest’; see CGMEMG vol. 3, 828) and persist as archaisms in some Modern Greek dialects (see e.g. αίσχιστος, ‘most hateful’; Andriotis 1974 s.v.).

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

N/A

Bibliography

Andriotis, N. P. (1974). Lexikon der Archaismen in neugriechischen Dialekten. Vienna.

Barber, P. J. (2013). Siever’s Law and the History of Semivowel Syllabicity in Indo-European and Ancient Greek. Oxford.

Bozzone, C. (2016). ‘The Origin of the Caland System and the Typology of Adjectives’. IEUL 4.1, 17–52.

Dettori, E.; Pellettieri, A. (2020). Glossographi. Lycophron Chalcidensis. Leiden, Boston.

García Valdés, M.; Llera Fueyo, L. A.; Rodríguez-Noriega Guillén, L. (2009). Claudius Aelianus. De natura animalium. Berlin.

Griffith, M. (1999). Sophocles. Antigone. Cambridge.

Henderson, J. (1987). Aristophanes. Lysistrata. Oxford.

Henderson, J. (2000). Aristophanes. Vol. 3: Birds, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria. London, Cambridge, MA.

Hercher, R. (1864). Claudii Aeliani de natura animalium libri xvii. Leipzig.

Kamerbeek, J. C. (1978). The Plays of Sophocles. Commentaries. Vol. 3: The Antigone. Leiden.

Landfester, M. (2019). Aristophanes. Lysistrate. Berlin, Boston.

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Race, W. H. (1997). Pindar. Vol. 2: Nemean Odes. Isthmian Odes. Fragments. Edited and translated by W. H. Race. Cambridge, MA.

Rau, J. (2014). ‘The History of the Indo-European Primary Comparative’. Steer, T.; Oettinger, N. (eds.), Das Nomen im Indogermanischen. Morphologie, Substantiv versus Adjektiv, Kollektivum: Akten der Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 14. bis 16. September 2011 in Erlangen. Weisbaden, 327–41.

Scholfield, A. F. (1958). Aelian. On Animals. Vol. 1: Books 1−5. Translated by A. F. Scholfield. Cambridge, MA.

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CITE THIS

Federica Benuzzi, 'βράχιστος, βραχύτατος (Antiatt. β 27)', in Olga Tribulato (ed.), Digital Encyclopedia of Atticism. With the assistance of E. N. Merisio.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30687/DEA/2974-8240/2024/03/038

ABSTRACT
This article provides a philological and linguistic commentary on the superlatives βράχιστος and βραχύτατος, discussed in the Atticist lexicon Antiatt. β 27.
KEYWORDS

ComparativesSuperlatives

FIRST PUBLISHED ON

12/12/2024

LAST UPDATE

12/12/2024