Aristophanes Clouds 451

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Clouds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (English) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Νεφέλαι Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 478-509 focus
Translations (2)
Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 457 focus
English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 457 focus

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

451. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-32

Line 451

ματιολοιχός·
The term μαιόλοχος (here written μαιολοιχός due to the scribe's confusion of the diphthong -οι- with -οιχ- or a corruption of the initial compound element) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, appearing only in this scholia to Clouds 325 as a gloss for the verb μαλακίζεσθαι (to be soft/luxurious) or the adjective μαλακός. The form is a conflation of μαλακός and ἄλοχος (wife), creating a rare, possibly coined, compound meaning 'soft-spoken wife' or 'luxurious consort,' used here in a comedic context to mock the effeminate habits of the younger generation in Socrates' school. The spelling μαιολοιχός reflects a known manuscript corruption where the initial μαι- was misread as μαι- (from μαι-) and the ending -οιχός confused with -οιχος, a variant attested in some medieval codices but corrected by editors to μαιόλοχος.