Thursday, June 02, 2011

 

Word-Doubling in Hieratic Language

Euripides, Hippolytus 61-71, tr. W.S. Barrett in his commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), p. 169 (underlining added by me):
HIPPOLYTUS
Follow me, follow me, singing of the child of Zeus, the heavenly one, Artemis, in whose care we are.

HIPPOLYTUS AND CHORUS OF SERVANTS
Lady, lady most reverend, that art sprung from Zeus, hail, hail to thee, thou daughter, Artemis, of Leto and of Zeus, fairest by far of maidens, that in the great sky dwellest in the hall of thy noble sire, in Zeus' dwelling rich in gold. Hail to thee, thou fairest, fairest of all in Olympos.

ΙΠΠΟΛΥΤΟΣ
ἕπεσθ' ᾄδοντες ἕπεσθε
τὰν Διὸς οὐρανίαν
Ἄρτεμιν, ᾇ μελόμεσθα.

ΙΠ. ΚΑΙ ΘΕΡΑΠΟΝΤΕΣ
πότνια πότνια σεμνοτάτα,
Ζηνὸς γένεθλον,
χαῖρε χαῖρέ μοι, ὦ κόρα
Λατοῦς Ἄρτεμι καὶ Διός,
καλλίστα πολὺ παρθένων,
ἃ μέγαν κατ' οὐρανὸν
ναίεις εὐπατέρειαν αὐ-
λάν, Ζηνὸς πολύχρυσον οἶκον.
χαῖρέ μοι, ὦ καλλίστα
καλλίστα τῶν κατ' Ὄλυμπον.
Barrett ad loc. (p. 169):
ἕπεϲθε ... ἕπεϲθε, 61 πότνια πότνια, 70 f. καλλίϲτα καλλίϲτα: hieratic language affects such word-doublings (Norden on Verg. Aen. 6.46), esp. in ritual calls (εὐφημεῖτε εὐφημεῖτε, ϲπονδὴ ϲπονδή, etc.; cf. Ba. 83 and 152 ἴτε βάκχαι ἴτε βάκχαι, and see Dodds on Ba. 107) and in calling on the deity by name (525 and Tr. 842 Ἔρωϲ Ἔρωϲ, Ion 125 ff. ὦ Παιὰν ὦ Παιάν, εὐαίων εὐαίων εἴηϲ ὦ Λατοῦϲ παῖ, S. Ai. 695 ὦ Πὰν Πάν, etc.).
David Kovacs in his Loeb Classical Library translation (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), by choice and not by oversight, I'm sure, retains only one of these word-doublings (pp. 129-130, underlining added by me):
HIPPOLYTUS
Come follow me and sing of Zeus's heavenly daughter Artemis, who cares for us!

HIPPOLYTUS AND CHORUS OF SERVANTS
Lady, lady most revered, daughter of Zeus, my greeting, daughter of Leto and Zeus, of maidens the fairest by far, who dwell in great heaven in the court of your good father, the gilded house of Zeus! My greeting to you, fairest of all who dwell in Olympus!
E.R. Dodds, commentary on Euripides, Bacchae, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960), on 107 βρύετε βρύετε (p. 80):
Repetition of words is especially characteristic of Eur.'s later lyric style (cf. Aristophanes' parody, Frogs 1352 ff., and Breitenbach, Untersuchungen zur Sprache der E. Lyrik, 214 ff.); but most of the instances in the Bacchae (68, 83, 107, 116, 152, 165, 370, 412, 537(?), 577 f., 582, 584, 595, 986, 1183, 1198) seem to be either ritual cries or the natural expression of religious exaltation.
Eduard Norden, commentary on book 6 of Vergil's Aeneid (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1903; I don't have access to later editions), on line 46 (pp. 136-137):
Dass die Wiederholung von deus in den Worten der Sibylle deus ecce deus auf einem Ritual beruht, scheint aus Ovid m. XV 677 ff. zu folgen: der Priester ruft bei der Erscheinung des Asklepios en deus est deus est und das Volk wiederholt diesen Doppelruf (verba geminata). Ähnlich findet sich auch sonst. An die Doppelung in ἄξιε ταῦρε, ἄξιε ταῦρε erinnert mich R. Wünsch. Der Bannruf lautet ἑκὰς ἑκάς, was Vergil unten 258 procul o procul übersetzt. In den Beschwörungen unserer Zauberpapyri ist Doppelung gewisser Worte sehr gewöhnlich, z.B. pap. Leid. (ed. Dieterich, Jahrbuch f. Phil. Suppl. XI 1888) p. 802 διὰ τοῦτο ἐπάκουσόν μου· ἤδη ἤδη ταχὺ ταχὺ ἵνα μὴ ἀναγκασθῶ ταῦτα (die ganze Beschwörung) ἐκ δευτέρου λέγειν, pap. Paris. (ed. Wessely, Denkschr. d. Wien. Akad. XXXVI 1888) p. 69 ἄρτι ἄρτι ἤδη ἤδη ταχὺ ταχύ, ib. 59 λέγε σιγῇ σιγῇ ... καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα σύρισον δὶϲ καὶ πόππυσον δίϲ. Daher lässt Seneca Oed. 567. 622 bei einer Totenbeschwörung den Priester die Zauberformel zweimal wiederholen und danach ist vielleicht auch Horaz epod. 17, 6 Canidia, parce vocibus tandem sacris, | citumque retro solve solve turbinem zu beurteilen. Die überall zugrundeliegende Vorstellung ist, dass durch die Wiederholung die Richtigkeit oder Dringlichkeit des Wortes betont werden soll.



<< Home
Newer›  ‹Older

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?