Aristophanes Thesmophoriazusae 1056

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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Thesmophoriazusae. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.)

Translations (2)
Thesmophoriazusae (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1056 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.) — 1056 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

1067. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-36

Line 1067

ἀστεροειδέα νῶτα διφρεύουσʼ
The verb διφρεύουσ' (from διφρέω) is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, derived from δίφρη (a two-wheeled cart or chariot). Its usage here as a transitive verb meaning 'to drive a chariot over' or 'to trample with a chariot' is syntactically marked by the direct object ἀστεροειδέα νῶτα ('star-shaped backs'), creating a vivid, hyperbolic image of women driving a chariot across the backs of the chorus or another group, likely a comic distortion of a chariot race or a metaphorical trampling. The form διφρεύουσ' is an active present indicative, 3rd person plural, which fits the context of the women (the chorus) acting collectively.

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Line 1081e

ὀτότυζʼ.
This line consists of a single, highly irregular vocative form ὀτότυζʼ, representing the vocative of ὀτότυζος (or a related dialectal/colloquial variant). The word is a rare, onomatopoeic coinage meaning 'owl' or 'nightjar,' likely used here as a term of abuse or a specific stage direction indicating the entrance of a character disguised as a bird. The elision of the final vowel before the punctuation mark (ʼ) reflects the performative, breathless delivery typical of Aristophanic comedy, where such grotesque or nonsensical words serve a metrical and comic function rather than a standard lexical one. The form's rarity and its specific comic context make it a crux for understanding the character's identity or the scene's absurdity.

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Line 1086

πῶτε τὸ πωνή;
The form πῶτε is an archaic or dialectal variant of πότε, the interrogative adverb 'when' or 'how'. While standard Attic comedy typically employs πότε, Aristophanes occasionally utilizes πῶτε to reflect the colloquial, rustic, or archaic register of specific characters or to achieve metrical necessity. Here, the usage signals the speaker's specific linguistic persona or the play's comedic tone, rather than a standard grammatical construction.