689.
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Line 689
κεἴ τις ἥμαρτε σφαλείς τι Φρυνίχου παλαίσμασιν,
The participle σφαλείς (aorist passive of σφάλλω, 'to trip' or 'to deceive') is used here with a dative of instrument (τι Φρυνίχου παλαίσμασιν) rather than the more common prepositional construction or genitive. This usage reflects a specific comic metaphor where 'tricks' (παλαίσματα, literally 'wrestling holds') are treated as the physical means of deception, a semantic shift common in Attic comedy but requiring attention to the dative's instrumental force here.
698.
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Line 698
χοἰ πατέρες ἐναυμάχησαν καὶ προσήκουσιν γένει,
The verb προσήκουσιν is a present indicative form meaning 'they belong' or 'they are related to', which here functions as a technical term in prosopographical or legal contexts to assert kinship. In this specific context of the Frogs, where the characters are debating the lineage of the Athenian citizens, this construction implies a formal claim of belonging to a specific family or clan, a concept central to the political satire regarding the qualifications for citizenship and military service during the Peloponnesian War.
797.
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Line 797
καὶ γὰρ ταλάντῳ μουσικὴ σταθμήσεται—
The verb σταθμήσεται (future middle/passive of σταθμέω) is a rare hapax in this specific metrical and syntactic configuration within Aristophanes, meaning 'will be weighed out' or 'will be measured out' (specifically in the sense of a payment or allocation). Here, it functions as a technical financial term applied metaphorically to music, implying that the quality of the music will be objectively quantified against a talent's worth. The construction with the dative ταλάντῳ (instrumental dative of value/measure) is syntactically precise, indicating the standard against which the weighing occurs, rather than the object being weighed. This usage relies on the audience's familiarity with the specific financial procedures of the Athenian treasury or the metaphorical 'weighing' of poets in the trial scene, distinguishing it from generic verbs of comparison.
815.
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Line 815
ἡνίκʼ ἂν ὀξύλαλον παρίδῃ θήγοντος ὀδόντα
The phrase ὀξύλαλον παρίδῃ θήγοντος ὀδόντα presents a striking example of Aristophanic wordplay and syntactic compression. The participle θήγοντος (genitive singular of θήγων) governs the genitive ὀδόντα, but the semantic force of the construction relies on the double meaning of ὀξύλαλος: literally 'sharp-tongued' (a common epithet for a rhetorician or scold) but here punningly linked to the physical act of 'sharpening a tooth' (θήγοντος ὀδόντα). This creates a visual gag where the 'sharp-tongued' man is imagined literally sharpening his tooth, a grotesque image characteristic of Old Comedy's physical humor. The construction is syntactically rare in that the genitive participle modifies a noun that is itself the object of a verb of seeing (παρίδῃ) in a way that collapses the distinction between the metaphorical 'sharp tongue' and the literal 'sharp tooth', a pun likely lost on readers unfamiliar with the specific comic convention of bodily grotesquerie in Aristophanes.
818.
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Line 818
ἔσται δʼ ἱππολόφων τε λόγων κορυθαίολα νείκη
The genitive plural ἱππολόφων (hippolōphōn) is a rare compound noun found here and in no other extant text, formed from ἵππος (horse) and λόγος (word). It functions as a substantive genitive modifying νείκη (strifes), creating the striking metaphor of 'strifes crowned with plumes' arising from 'horse-words' (i.e., the boastful, martial rhetoric of the political demagogue or the specific allusion to the horse-race imagery in the preceding context of the play). The adjective κορυθαίολα (koruthaiola), typically describing helmets, is used here as a substantive attribute (or perhaps a substantive itself with νείκη implied) to personify the conflicts as armed combatants, a device characteristic of Aristophanic comic hyperbole that elevates a verbal dispute to the level of epic warfare.
