Studies in Greek Colour Terminology: 1. γλαυκός.

264 Pages·1981·4.383 MB·English

by  Maxwell-Stuart

STUDIES IN GREEK
COLOUR TERMINOLOGY
VOLUME I
fAAYKOI:
MNEMOSYNE
BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATA VA
COLLEGERUNT
A. D. LEEMAN· H. W. PLEKET · W. J. VERDENIUS
BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENOOS CURAVIT
W. J VERDENIUS, HOMERUSLAAN 53, ZEIST
SUPPLEMENTUM SEXAGESIMUM QUINTUM
P. G. MAXWELL-STUART
STUDIES IN GREEK
COLOUR TERMINOLOGY
VOLUME I
fAAYKO:E
LUGDUNI BATAVORUM E. J. BRILL MCMLXXXI
STUDIES IN GREEK
COLOUR TERMINOLOGY
VOLUME I
fAAYKO~
BY
P. G. MAXWELL-STUART
LEIDEN E. J. BRILL 1981
ISBN 90 04 06406 0
Copyright 1981 by E. j. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
translated in a,ry form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche
or any other means without written permission from the publisher
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vn
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. n,cxux6i;: textual evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
(a) Prose writers................................................ 12
Addendum to Adamantius.. ..... ... ..... ..... ........... 16
Addendum on -yAcxuxt6wv.................................. 42
(b) Verse writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
III. fAcxux6i;: usage and meaning.................................. 107
( a) Historical development of its usage in prose . . . . . . . . . 108
(b) Meaning and variations................................. 116
( c) Historical development of its usage in verse . . . . . . . . . 124
( d) Symbolic and emotional associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 7
(e) Etymology................................................. 143
(f) Word lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 7
A. Adjectives ending in w~, w1toi;................. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 157
B. Hesychius: a-yAcxux6i;........................................... ... . 163
C. The Rainbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
D. The image of-yAcxuxwmi; . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 169
E. Alexander's eyes................................................... 17 0
F. Alexis Comicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 72
G. Arabic translations of )'Acxux6i; and xcxpo1t6i;..................... 173
H. Theophilus: De Urinis............................................. 175
I. A note on Choeroboscus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

FOREWORD
My intention in writing this book has been to clear certain
ground so that a more thorough and a more complete study can be
made of the full range of Greek colour-terminology. That such
work needs to be done must occur to anyone who either reads
translations from the Greek or looks up the words in a lexicon. In
the one, too often he will discover only puzzlement and in the other,
confusion. Nor will he find that attempts to discuss Greek colour-
terms assist him very far. As I have tried to point out in Chapter I,
such studies, no matter what their age or provenance, have one
thing in common; they assume that the Greeks did not see things as
we do and that their defective vision accounts for a jejune or near-
incomprehensible colour-vocabulary.
These assumptions it has been my wish to challenge in this book
which should be regarded as the preliminary volume of a series in
which every Greek colour-term will be discussed in full. My method
has been to take prose-usage as the basis for establishing the prin-
cipal meaning of each word, to record, and examine if necessary,
every context in which the word is used, and then to repeat the pro-
cess for verse-usage, re-interpreting or developing the meaning in
the light of what prose-usage has revealed. I have also discussed the
historical development of the term in both prose and verse, and the
symbolic and emotional significance which they may have carried
for the Greeks at any given time. In this way, I hope I have been
able to show that there is nothing strange or ambiguous about the
term, to correct well-established errors of judgment, and to reveal
meanings and resonances which have hitherto lain neglected or
concealed.
I think it important, however, that I make one or two points
about the form I have adopted in writing the book. It is no use a
reader's coming to the material with preconceived views about the
'paucity' of Greek colour-terms, or any notions about saturation,
texture, reflective and non-reflective qualities, combinations of col-
ours such as are present in man-made or natural surfaces, or any
other such ideas derived from the revelations of modern photog-
raphy. I cannot stress too forcibly that until we have re-examined,
and re-examined with an open mind, actual Greek usage of a
VIII FOREWORD
colour-term in all its available contexts, we cannot begin to say
whether the Greeks were or were not aware of such visual effects.
So the word, in this case yAaux6i;, must be shown at work in its
contexts in order that this kind of judgment can be made from post-
appreciation and not preconception.
Secondly, I have had in mind readers with two different re-
quirements. There are those who wish to know whether a particular
use of yAaux6i; by a particular author is odd, normal, in need of
explanation, consistent with his usual usage, or bizarre even within
his own range of vocabulary. For such readers I have arranged
references under the author's name, and the authors in alphabetical
order, prose writers followed by verse. This, Chapter II, is
therefore in the nature of a detailed lexicon and does not have to be
read from start to finish - although, of course, it can be. This
arrangement enables a reader to make a quick check on the word's
usage and meaning in that context, as though he were looking it up
in a dictionary.
The accumulated evidence of all these examples is what provides
the basis for Chapter III which is a discussion of the chronological
development of the word's meaning. Here one can see how new
meanings are added to the word, how old nuances disappear, how
cliches are born: so for those who want a history of yAaux6i;, this
chapter can be read without constant reference to Chapter II. In
other words, the book is actually two slightly different books under
the same cover and is not necessarily meant to be read from first
page to last as a connected essay, although inevitably the evidence
from one part has relevance for the material in the other.
One critic suggested that a better arrangement would have been
to group the quotations where the word is applied to the same object
or class of objects so that, for example, once it had been shown that
yAaux6i; could be used of the sea, all other such examples could simp-
ly be listed as references. Unfortunately this would not allow a
reader easily to check that the example he had come across was one
of normal or abnormal usage; but worse, it would not let him com-
pare this usage with the author's usage of yAaux6i; in relation to other
objects, a comparison which might be particularly revealing.
Another critic complained that when yAaux6i; was applied to eyes it
referred primarily to a variegated effect, since blue-grey eyes are
frequently less uniform in appearance than brown, and so the word
would mean something like 'of blue-grey type'. I shall not refrain
FOREWORD IX
from pointing out that when we speak in English of 'blue' eyes we
probably mean 'of blue type' but actually say just 'blue', and that
there is no reason to suppose Greek usage was any different. But
when English speaks of 'blue' eyes, it does not then go on to assume
that the word 'blue' does not basically mean 'blue' but 'having a
surface with reflective areas upon a dark or matt surface back-
ground,' and is not therefore exclusively a colour-term. Yet this is
precisely the line of argument which a third critic tried to follow in
his efforts to deny that Greek colour-vision was not particularly defi-
cient and that its colour-vocabulary was not the jejune affair
scholars have so far assumed it to be.
Such curious intransigence, however, is only one of the dif-
ficulties I have had to face: composition of the book itself has taken
place under circumstances which I can only call disadvantageous.
Perhaps I could do worse here than quote the reply of James Mur-
ray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, to suggestions (many
ill-conceived) made by Delegates of the Press for preparing the
work to their (not Murray's) satisfaction. "On such points," he
said, "no two men will ever spontaneously see alike .... I do not
expect that my treatment of words, especially difficult words,
will strike other people as that which they would have adopted ....
The most that can be expected is 'this is not an unreasonable way
of exhibiting the facts' ''.
Critics apart, many gentlemen have answered my queries on
specific points and I have acknowledged their help in the body of
the text. I should like, however, to record here my particular thanks
to Mr. D. I. Bowen for his advice on ophthalmological matters, to
Dr. J. T. Killen and Dr. D. J. Crawford for reading the completed
text, and to Mr. T. R. Bowen for his help and encouragement
while it was being written.
ABBREVIATIONS
For the most part I have followed the abbreviations used by
L 'Annee Philologique. Titles of papyri appear according to the system
adopted in the new LSJM. In addition, I have employed
CCAG Catalogi Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum.
CVA Corpus Vasorum Antiqorum.
LSJM Liddell-Scott-Jones-McKenzie: Greek-English Lexicon.