George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/481
Context
George Choeroboscus (“Swineherd”), whose posthumous reputation may
have suffered from an association with iconoclasm, was a ranking official and teacher in
the Patriarchate of Constantinople during the early 9th century. He played an important
part in the transmission of ancient grammatical research to Byzantine scholarship. This
collection of “parsings” (ἐπιμερισμοί), or grammatical analyses arranged by words or
elements of words, takes the form of sequential questions and answers that progress from
an initial discussion of the word ψάλμος. In this passage, Choeroboscus cited the
toponym Kaisareia as an example of words with the initial syllable
kai.
Text
Τί διαφέρει δεσμὸς συνδέσμου; Διαφέρει, ὅτι ὁ μὲν δεσμὸς εἰς ἓν
χαρακτηρίζεται, ὁ δὲ σύνδεσμος εἰς πολλά. Τὸ ΚΑΙ ποίου τῶν συνδέσμων; Συμπλεκτικοῦ.
Διόρισον. Συμπλεκτικοὶ δέ εἰσιν, ὅσοι τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ἐπ’ ἄπειρον ἐκφερομένην συνδοῦσι. Τὸ
ΚΑΙ τί ΑΙ γράφεις, διατί; Πᾶσα λέξις ἀπὸ τῆς ΚΕ συλλαβῆς ἀρχομένη, διὰ τοῦ Ε ψιλοῦ
γράφεται, οἷον κέραμος, κεφαλὴ, χωρὶς τοῦ ΚΑΙ συνδέσμου, καὶ καιρὸς, καίριον, Καῖσαρ,
καὶ τὰ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινόμενα Καισαρεὺς, Καισάρεια, καὶ τὰ ἔχοντα ἀναφαινόμενον τὸ Α, ὡς τὸ
καίω, καύσω, καὶ καικίας ὁ ἄνεμος, καὶ Καινεὺς κύριον, καὶ καινὸν, τὸ νεωστὶ
κατεσκευασμένον· κενὸς δὲ ὁ μάταιος ψιλὸν, ἐκ τοῦ χέω, χενὸς καὶ κενός.1
Textual Note
Ed. Gaisford 1842Corrigenda Note
Minor corr. (punctuation)Translation
What is the difference between desmos [“binding”]
and syndesmos [“conjunction”]?The difference is that the
desmos is characterized in regard to one thing, while the
syndesmos in regard to many.What kind of conjunction is the
word kai?Copulative.Define.Copulatives are the many
conjunctions that bind together an expression formed for its unboundedness.As for the
word kai, why do you write ai?Every word
beginning with the syllable ke is written with a plain epsilon, e.g.
keramos, kephale; apart from the conjunction
kai, and kairos, kairion,
Kaisar and the words made from it Kaisareus,
Kaisareia; and words that have a prominent alpha,
such as the verb
kaio, kauso, and
kaikias the wind, and Kaineus the proper noun,
and kainon “the thing just now put together”; and
kenos “the vain man” with the voiceless unaspirated (kappa), from
the verb cheo, chenos and
kenos.
Translation Note
Trans. J. L. RifeWorks Cited
- 1 George Choeroboscus, Georgii Choerobosci Epimerismi in Psalmos, ed. Thomas Gaisford (Oxford: E Typographeo Academico, 1842), p: 20, line: 13-24.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/481.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/481.About this Entry
Entry Title: George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24”
Additional Credit:
- TEI record created by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium translated by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium transcribed by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium identified by Joseph L. Rife
- TEI record created by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium translated by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium transcribed by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium identified by Joseph L. Rife