George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24
created: This entry is taken from Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24 written by George Choerobos
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/481

and

Kaisareia

is directly attested at George Choeroboscus, Parsings on Psalms 20.13-24. This passage was written ca. ca. 815-845 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. 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.

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.

[Ed. Gaisford 1842] [Minor corr. (punctuation)]

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. [Trans. J. L. Rife]

Works Cited

[...] 20 13-24

[* Gennadius Scholarius, Introduction to Grammar 2.457.5-9

* Pseudo-Aelius Herodian, Parsings 63

* Unknown, Great Dictionary of Word Origins p. 498.7-15]

[Greek Language]