Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Young and Old
Homer, Iliad 3.108-110 (tr. Peter Green):
Newer› ‹Older
Younger men's ideas are forever flighty,Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. ὁπλότερος:
but whatever an old man's involved in, he'll always look
forward and back as well, ensure what's best for both sides.
αἰεὶ δ᾽ ὁπλοτέρων ἀνδρῶν φρένες ἠερέθονται·
οἷς δ᾽ ὁ γέρων μετέῃσιν ἅμα πρόσσω καὶ ὀπίσσω
λεύσσει, ὅπως ὄχ᾽ ἄριστα μετ᾽ ἀμφοτέροισι γένηται.
The orig. sense was perh. capable of bearing arms; and so ὁπλότεροι would be the serviceable men, hence, the young men, opp. the old men and children.Friedrich Bechtel (1855-1924), Lexilogus zu Homer: Etymologie und Stammbildung homerischer Wörter (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1914), p. 252:
