Aristotle Poetics 20.8

Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator)

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But a noun is a composite sound, significant without time, of which no part is of itself significant. For in double nouns, we do not use the parts as of themselves significant. Thus, in the word Theodorus, [though Theos signifies God and doron a gift,] yet doron signifies nothing. 1

Poetics. Aristotle. Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator). London. 1857.

Current edition Experimental

The Poetic of Aristotle (Theodore Alois Buckley) (OCR draft) (English) (Theodore Alois Buckley's English translation, first published in 1850 and represented from the Henry G. Bohn 1857 printing; corrected against a second OCR and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) (Aristotle, Poetics. Immanuel Bekker, editor, Aristotelis Opera, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1837.) — 20 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 20 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 20 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Franz Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's 1839 Greek edition, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 20 focus
Translations (13)
Poetics (W. H. Fyfe) (OCR draft) Perseus (William Hamilton Fyfe's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, Loeb Classical Library, 1939 printing.) — 20 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 20 focus
Poetics (S. H. Butcher, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (S. H. Butcher's English translation from Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, fourth edition, 1911.) — 20 focus
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 20 focus
Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) Experimental (Thomas Twining's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1789 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 20.8 focus
A noun, is a sound, composed of other sounds; significant, without expression of time; and of which no part is by itself significant: for even in double words, the parts are not taken in the sense that separately belongs to them. Thus, in the word Theodorus, dorus is not significant 1 .
The Poetic of Aristotle (Henry James Pye, revised 1792) (OCR draft) Experimental (Henry James Pye's revised 1792 English translation, corrected against the 1788 first edition, aligned to the Kassel reference edition, and supplied with a selective apparatus of substantive 1788 readings.) — 20.8 focus
For even in names composed of two words, we never conceive either of the parts, taken separately, to have any meaning; as, in the name Theodorus, DORUS [K] has no meaning. 1 2 3 4
Poetica Latine conversa (Franciscus Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's Latin translation, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 20 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 20.8 focus
Le nom eſt un ſon compoſé, qui ſignifie quelque choſe ſans marquer le temps, & dont les parties qui le compoſent ne ſignifient rien ſeules, car même dans les noms doubles, chaque nom ſeparé n'a aucune ſignification, comme Theodore, ſi l'on des-unit les deux noms qui le forment, ni l'un ni l'autre ne ſignifient rien.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 20 focus
De poetica (Antonio Riccobono, 1587) (OCR draft) Experimental (Antonio Riccobono's Latin translation, first published in 1587; text represented from Immanuel Bekker's 1831 edition.) — 20 focus
De arte poetica liber (William of Moerbeke, ca. 1277) (OCR draft) Experimental (William of Moerbeke's medieval Latin translation, represented by the 1953 Aristoteles Latinus edition.) — 20 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (The Arabic translation attributed to Abū Bishr Mattā, edited by Jaroslaus Tkatsch in 1928 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 20 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition, unaligned) (OCR draft) Experimental (Tkatsch's edition of the medieval Arabic translation in its original, unaligned segmentation.) — 20 focus

Notes on the current edition

Poetics

1. 9. Verb.

Commentary

Commentary on the Poetics (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) (Ingram Bywater's English commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.) focus

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-735

ὄνομα. In this definition συνθετή differentiates the ὄνομα from the στοιχεῖον, σημαντική from the ἄρθρον and σύνδεσμος, ἄνευ χρόνου from the ῥῆμα, and what remains ( ἧς μέρος οὐδὲν κτέ.) from the λόγος. In a λόγος ( . 8. ζῷον πεζὸν δίπουν, οι Κλέων βαδίζει) the parts retain their several meanings; whereas in an ὄνομα, if the parts happen to have a meaning, it is lost in the word into which they enter; Θεόδωρος for instance denotes a certain man, not a kind of gift: De interpr. 2, 16 b 19
ὄνομα μὲν οὖν ἐστι φωνὴ σημαντικὴ κατὰ συνθήκην ἄνευ χρόνου, ἧς μηδὲν μέρος ἐστὶ σημαντικὸν κεχωρισμένον· ἐν γὰρ τῷ Κάλλιππος τὸ ἵππος οὐδὲν αὐτὸ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸ σημαίνει, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ καλὸς ἵππος
. The general term ὄνομα must be taken to include not only the nouns, but also the adjectives, the personal and demonstrative pronouns, and possibly even the article as a kind of pronoun—in fact all the declinable parts of speech except perhaps the relatives, which may have been classed among the ἄρθρα A verb also apart from a subject, as a mere name for an action, may be called an ὄνομα, as it is for instance in 21, 1457 a 25; 22, 1458 b20; 25, 1461 b 31; comp. De interpr. 3, 16 b 19
αὐτὰ μὲν οὖν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὰ λεγόμενα ὀνόματά ἐστι [scil. τὰ ῥήματα] καὶ σημαίνει τι (ἵστησι γὰρ ὁ λέγων τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ὁ ἀκούσας ἠρέμησεν), ἀλλ᾽ εἰ ἔστιν ἢ μὴ οὔπω σημαίνει
. It is a ῥῆμα proper only when actually said of a subject, as the predicate of a proposition.

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-736

οὐ χρώμεθα: comp. 21, 1457 a 33 πλὴν οὐκ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι σημαίνοντος. The construction in the clause may be seen from Vahlen's paraphrase, εν τοῖς διπλοῖς οὐ χρώμεθα τῷ μέρει ἡγούμενοι καὶ αὐτὸ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ σημαίνειν. The participial ὡς καὶ αὐτὸ καθ᾽ αὐτὸ σημαῖνον is an acc. absolute like those in 3, 1448 a 37 and 26, 1462 10.

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-737

τῷ Θεοδώρῳ: i.e. 'the word Θεόδωρος'; comp. infra 28 ὁ Κλέων, ' the word Κλέων'. — Plato Crat. 392 D
τὸν Ἀστυάνακτα
, ' the name Astyanax'; for the similar Latin usage v. Wilkins on Cicero De Oratore 2, 193 . In the De interpr. we have the more scholastic form of expression with a nominative, ἐν τῷ Κάλλιππος. τὸ δῶρον: i. e. the word δῶρον implied in Θεόδωρος. As the parallel in the De interpr. is ἐν τῷ Κάλλιππος τὸ ἵππος οὐδὲν αὐτὸ καθ ἑαυτὸ σημαίνει, it has been proposed to restore here τὸ δωρος for τὸ δῶρον. The two cases, however, as Düntzer reminds us, are not quite similar, since δωρος does not exist as a separate word, as ἵππος does, and there would therefore be no point in saying of it that it is without meaning ( οὐ σημαίνει).

Remarques sur la poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) (André Dacier's French commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.) focus

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-478

20.8 13. Le nom est un ſon composé, qui fignifie quelque choſe ſans marquer le temps, & dont les parties qui le compoſent ne fignifient rien ſeules.] 1

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-479

20.8 14. Car même dans les noms doubles, chaque nom ſeparé n'a aucune fignification, comme Theodore.] 2

Commentary on the Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (Thomas Twining's notes on Aristotle's Poetics, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

172. mvp-aristotle-comment-172

NOTE 172. P. 105.

20.8 FOR EVEN IN DOUBLE WORDS, &C.Compare cap. ii. and iv. of Aristotle's treatise Περι Ερμηνειας . This is rendered by Piccolomini , with his usual accuracy,
"perochè nei nomi doppij [ò ver composti] non usiamo le parti d'essi, secondo che, da per se prese, hanno significatione: come, (per essempio) in questo nome Theodoro, quella parte (doro) non é significante."
1

Commentary on the Poetics (Henry James Pye, 1792) (OCR draft) (Henry James Pye's 1792 English commentary, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

20.4. mvp-aristotle-comment-84 20.8

IN NAMES COMPOSED OF TWO WORDS WE NEVER CONCEIVE EITHER OF THE PARTS TAKEN SEPARATELY TO HAVE ANY MEANING.

THE same observation is just as to common nouns or names of things as well as persons if they are either of foreign or obsolete derivation [M]. And fometimes even if the words are compounded of terms in general use. This is well illustrated in Mr. Jackson's Letters. ، Perhaps,' (he says)' it may be imagined that those words which carry their fignification with them should be most expreffive, whether long or short; that is when they are compounded of known words which express that fignification. But this is not so; when we say " adieu," " farewell," we mean no more than a ceremony at parting. No one < confiders " adieu" as a recommendation to God, or "farewell" as a wish for happiness. Frequent use destroys all idea of derivation; • but if we speak a compound or self-fignificant word that is not common, we perceive the derivation of it. Thus if a Londoner says " butter-milk," he has an idea of something composed of " butter" " and " milk," but to an Irishman or Hollander it is as fimple an idea. as either of the words taken separately is to us.' LETTER III. [M] See for example what is said of Curfew, Note IV. Chap. XIV. NOTE

Commentarius in Aristotelis Poeticam (Franciscus Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) (Ritter's Latin commentary, extracted from the 1839 volume, divided by Ritter's chapters and sections, and linked to the corresponding Perseus reference subsections.) focus

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-142

Ritter, cap. 20 § 8

ὄνομα δ᾽ ἐστὶ φωνὴ συνθετή - καθ' αὑτὸ σημαντικόν: haec omnia non bene repetita sunt ex libro Aristotelis de Interpretatione c. 2., ubi legimus ὄνομα μὲν οὖν φωνὴ σημαντική κατὰ συνθήκην ἄνευ χρόνου, ἧς μηδὲν μέρος ἐστὶ σημαντικόν κεχωρισμένον. pro κατὰ συνθήκην (ex consensu, ex instituto) falsus Aristoteles dedit συθετήν, h. e. componendam, vocem ambiguam atque eo magis ambiguam, quod eandem in syllabae definitione posuit §. 5. οἷον ἐν τῷ Θεοδώρῳ τὸ δῶρον οὐ σημαίνει: debuit οἷον ἐν τῷ Θεόδωρος τὸ δῶρος οὐ σημαίνει. male imitatus est verum Aristolelem qui scribit de Interp. c. 2. ἐν γὰρ τῷ Κάλλιππος τὸ ἵππος οὐδὲν αὐτὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸ σημαίνει.