The Languages of Aristophanes: Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Classical Attic Greek (Oxford Classical Monographs)

376 Pages·2006·13.98 MB·English

by  Andreas Willi

OXFORD CLASSICAL MONOGRAPHS
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Faculty of Classics in the University of Oxford
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Oxford Classical and Philosophical Monographs) is to publish books
based on the best theses on Greek and Latin literature, ancient history, and
ancient philosophy examined by the Faculty Board of Classics.
The Languages of
Aristophanes
Aspects of Linguistic Variation
in Classical A ttic Greek
ANDREAS WILLI
OXTORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Andreas Willi 2003
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ISBN 0-19-926264-0
To my Parents

Preface
EVEN in classics bookshops linguistic titles do not appear on the
bestseller lists, but knowing this and acting accordingly are differ-
ent things: to write this book—and the doctoral thesis upon which
it is based—was an act of self-indulgence. The choice of subject let
me combine two of my greatest likings, that for language and that
for entertaining literature. In addition, I enjoyed the privilege of
declaring myself a linguist whenever I spoke to a classicist, and a
classicist whenever I spoke to a linguist. There is no better way to
be considered a 'specialist', to hide one's ignorance, and to obtain
much-needed help. Of this I had no small share, and so my heart-
felt thanks go to many people, only a few of whom I can mention
here.
No one . I should therefore
start with my teachers Manfred Hauser, Christoph Jungck,
Andreas Knecht, and Walter Wandeler at the Humanistisches
Gymnasium Basel, who were the first to awaken my interest in the
languages of classical antiquity. Later, I was taught by many
inspiring scholars in Basel, Lausanne, Ann Arbor, and Fribourg,
among whom I owe most to Joachim Latacz and Rudolf Wachter.
The generous Charles Oldham Graduate Scholarship of Corpus
Christi College Oxford allowed me to pursue my research without
financial worries and in the most pleasant surroundings: those who
know the College's wonderful library will understand what I mean.
In the person of Ewen Bowie I had an ever-approachable college
adviser, who is himself no stranger to Greek comedy. I also
received much friendly and helpful advice from Angus Bowie, who
acted as an interim supervisor in my second year at Oxford, and
from John Penney and Peter Brown, who at various stages exam-
ined my progress on behalf of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores
and who were thus forced to read two of my chapters in a less-than-
final version.
Richard Ashdowne, Peter Barber, James Henderson, Richard
Hitchman, Philomen Probert, Elinor Reynolds, Elizabeth Roy,
viii Preface
and Yashovardhan Shah all checked parts of what is presented here
and made my English sound less Scythian. Helen Kaufmann did so
too, and with immense patience pointed out to me where the logic
of my argument was no logic yet. Even so, there were many things
left to improve and in the final revision I was able to draw on a large
number of suggestions made by my doctoral examiners Albio
Cassio and Alan Sommerstein, who both sacrificed much of their
time and shared much of their knowledge with me. After them,
Lucy Qureshi, Enid Barker, Lavinia Porter, and Jenny Wagstaffe
of Oxford University Press took care of the manuscript, and Julian
Ward impressed me with his conscientious and circumspect copy-
editing.
My greatest debts, however, are those to my parents, from
whom I may well have inherited my love for language and lan-
guages, and those to my supervisor Anna Morpurgo Davies, who
guided and supported my work in such an unsurpassable way that
I feel almost sorry to have finished it now.
A.W.
Basel
I July 2002
Contents
Texts, Translations, and Abbreviations x
List of Figures xii
List of Tables xiii
1. Introduction i
2. Religious Registers 8
3. Technical Languages 51
4. 'Scientific Discourse' 96
5. Sophistic Innovations 118
6. Female Speech 157
7. Foreigner Talk 198
8. Conclusion 226
Appendix: Aristophanes' Attic: A Grammatical Sketch 232
References 271 271
Index of Passages 305 305
Index of Greek 337 337
General Index 351 351