Nouns are of two kinds, either (1) simple, i. e.
made up of non-significant parts, like the word γῆ
or (2) double; in the
latter case the word may be made up either of a significant
and a non-significant part (a distinction which disappears in
the compound), or of two significant parts.
It is possible also
to have triple, quadruple or higher compounds, like most of
our amplified names; e.g. 'Hermocaïcoxanthus' and the like.
Whatever its structure, a Noun must always be either
(1) the ordinary word for the thing, or (2) a strange word,
or (3) a metaphor, or (4) an ornamental word, or (5) a coined
word, or (6) a word lengthened out, or (7) curtailed, or (8)
altered in form.
By the ordinary word I mean that in
general use in a country;
and by a strange word, one in
use elsewhere. So that the same word may obviously be
at once strange and ordinary, though not in reference to the
same people; σίγυνος, for instance, is an ordinary word in
Cyprus, and a strange word with us.
Metaphor consists
in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else;
the transference being either from genus to species, or from
species to genus, or from species to species, or on grounds
of analogy.
That from genus to species is exemplified
in 'Here stands my ship'; for lying at anchor is the
'standing' of a particular kind of thing.
That from
species to genus in 'Truly ten thousand good deeds has
Ulysses wrought,' where 'ten thousand,' which is a par-
ticular large number, is put in place of the generic 'a large
number.'
That from species to species in 'Drawing the
life with the bronze,' and in 'Severing with the enduring
bronze'; where the poet uses 'draw' in the sense of 'sever'
and 'sever' in that of 'draw,' both words meaning to 'take
away' something.
That from analogy is possible whenever
there are four terms so related that the second (B) is to the
first (A), as the fourth (D) to the third (C); for one may
then metaphorically put B in lieu of D, and D in lieu of B.
Now and then, too, they qualify the metaphor by adding
on to it that to which the word it supplants is relative.
Thus a cup (B) is in relation to Dionysus (A) what a shield
(D) is to Ares (C). The cup accordingly will be metaphorically
described as the 'shield of Dionysus' (D + A), and the shield
as the 'cup of Ares' (B + C).
Or to take another instance:
As old age (D) is to life (C), so is evening (B) to day (A).
One will accordingly describe evening (B) as the 'old age
of the day' (D + A) - or by the Empedoclean equivalent;
and old age (D) as the 'evening' or 'sunset of life' (B + C).
It
may be that some of the terms thus related have no special
name of their own, but for all that they will be metaphorically
described in just the same way. Thus to cast forth seed-
corn is called 'sowing'; but to cast forth its flame, as said
of the sun, has no special name. This nameless act (B),
however, stands in just the same relation to its object,
sunlight (A), as sowing (D) to the seed-corn (C). Hence
the expression in the poet, 'sowing around a god-created
flame' (D + A).
There is also another form of qualified
metaphor. Having given the thing the alien name, one
may by a negative addition deny of it one of the attributes
naturally associated with its new name.
An instance of
this would be to call the shield not the 'cup of Ares,' as
in the former case, but a 'cup that holds no wine.'
A
coined word is a name which, being quite unknown among
a people, is given by the poet himself; e.g. (for there are some
words that seem to be of this origin) ἐρνύγες for horns, and
ἀρητήρ for priest.
A word is said to be lengthened out,
when it has a short vowel made long, or an extra syllable
inserted;
e.g. πόληος for πόλεως, Πηληιάδεω for Πηλείδου. It
is said to be curtailed, when it has lost a part; e.g. κρῖ, δῶ,
and ὄψ in
It is an altered word,
when part is left as it was and part is of the poet's making;
e. g. δεξιτερόν for δεξιόν, in
The Nouns themselves (to whatever class they may belong)
are either masculines, feminines, or intermediates (neuter).
All ending in N, P, Σ, or in the two compounds of this last,
Ψ and Ξ, are masculines.
All ending in the invariably long
vowels, Η and Ω, and in Α among the vowels that may be
long, are feminines.
So that there is an equal number of
masculine and feminine terminations, as Ψ and Ξ are the
same as Σ, and need not be counted.
There is no Noun,
however, ending in a mute or in either of the two short
vowels, Ε and Ο.
Only three ( μέλι, κόμμι, πέπερι) end in
Ι, and five in Υ. The intermediates, or neuters, end in the
variable vowels or in N, P, Σ.
Poetics. Aristotle. Ingram Bywater (Translator), ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1909.