Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Asyndetic Privative Adjectives on a Magical Tablet
There is a pair of asyndetic privative adjectives (ἀκίνητοι ἄδρομοι) in R.S.O. Tomlin, "'Remain like Stones, Unmoving, Un-running': Another Greek Spell against Competitors in
a Foot-Race," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 160 (2007) 161-166 (lines 27-31 of the tablet, on p. 163, with Tomlin's translation on p. 164):
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δῆϲον α[ὐτῶν]
τοὺϲ πόδοϲ, τὰ νεῦρα, τὰ ϲκέλη, τὸν θυμό[ν], τὴν ἀρε[τήν],
τὰ τριακόϲια πεντήκοντα πέ<ν>τε μέλη τῶν ϲωμάτων [αὐ-]
τῶν καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν, ἕνα μὴ δύνοντε προβένιν ἐν τῷ
ϲταδίῳ, ἂλλὰ μένωϲιν ὡϲ λίθοι ἀκίνητοι ἄδρομοι.
Bind their
feet, sinews, legs, spirit, excellence,
the three hundred and fifty-five limbs of their bodies
and souls, that they be not able to proceed in the
stadium, but remain like stones, unmoving, un-running.
Labels: asyndetic privative adjectives
