Aristophanes Wasps 277

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Wasps. 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)
Σφῆκες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 230-333 focus
Translations (2)
Wasps (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 273 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.) — 273 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

277. mvp-tlg0019-tlg004-sanjaya-com-eng1-2

Line 277

καὶ τάχʼ ἂν βουβωνιῴη.
The verb βουβωνιῴη (aorist optative of βουβωνίζω) is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes and a rare formation in Attic comedy. Derived from βῶν (scrotum) or βουβῶν (groin), it is a coined verb meaning 'to swell in the groin' or 'to suffer from buboes.' The construction relies on the comic convention of using bodily ailments as metaphors for political or social infection; here, the character (likely Philocleon) suggests that his master, Bdelycleon, would be afflicted with bubonic plague symptoms were he to attempt to restrain him. The optative with ἂν indicates a potential condition, but the specific lexical choice creates a grotesque pun on the 'swelling' of the city's political ailments, a device rare even for Old Comedy's bodily humor.