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The Meaning of Corinna's εροα

Dee Lesser Clayman

The Classical Quarterly / Volume 28 / Issue 02 / December 1978, pp 396 - 397

DOI: 10.1017/S0009838800034923, Published online: 11 February 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838800034923

How to cite this article:

Dee Lesser Clayman (1978). The Meaning of Corinna's εροα. The Classical
Quarterly, 28, pp 396-397 doi:10.1017/S0009838800034923

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 THE MEANING OF CORINNA'S /epota

In the opening verses of P.Oxy. 2370 (= 655 PMG) Corinna declares that she is
about to sing lovely Fepoia to the white-robed ladies of Tanagra. These lines
come from the same poem or collection of poems cited by Hephaestion (Encb.
16.3 p.56 Cons.) and Antoninus Liberalis (25) as yepota which must be a corrup-
tion of the original Fepoia at the hands of a copyist who read the unfamiliar f
asT. 1
The meaning of r&fepoia eluded the first editor, E. Lobel, who describes
it as 'etymologically mysterious',2 and has not been investigated by others,
yet one does not have to look very far to find it. F~epoia or better, the singular
*Fepou>v can be understood as a formation of the same type as rrXoioP and poia
{v\oiov < *n\ofrtov,poia < *po/ria.) In their verbal forms, the stems of these
nouns change to e-grade giving nXecj from *rr\eFOJ and pea> from *p€F<*>-3 If
the analogy is correct, we would expect that *Fepowv would be formed from
*Fepof-tov and a verb from */rep'eFU-
It remains to find a Greek verb which may be derived from *frepe/rco. Two
candidates present themselves. The first, eipco, 'to speak', exhibits the initial
digamma guaranteed by a Cretan inscription (Supp. Graec. 2.509). It is usually
derived from the stem *fep- and has a future epeto or epco with the stem *fepe-.*
The second candidate, which clearly exhibits the second digamma is epeco
(epofjuu), 'to ask', usually derived from *epe/~-.s
Scholarship traditionally separates elpco and epeco but Homer sometimes
'confuses' the two. For example, the third person singular subjunctive of epo/xat
is usually £pr\Tax. At Od. 9.503 it appears as elprjTCU and is preceded by hiatus
implying the presence of an initial digamma. Sometimes there are confusions
of meaning, elpero, the imperfect of epoficu should mean 'asked', but 'spoke'
would be a much better translation at //. 1.513.
Chantraine, who discusses this confusion in reference to a scholiast's note on
Od. 11.542, suggests that the two words may have become contaminated in the
course of the development of the language.6 ra fepoia might be the product of
such contamination. If Corinna lived and wrote in the Hellenistic period,7 the
title could be a bit of faulty archaizing on the part of the author herself. If, on
the other hand, she lived in the fifth century,8 and wrote a truly conservative

1 s
Many examples of confusions between Frisk i. 467. The digamma of *epep-
F and r can be found in Hesychius who says, is inferred from forms like epelonev and
for example, that yinov is the equivalent of epeuri?c.
elmv (Cretan feiirai);yiayov is'iaov (Boeotian ' P. Chantraine, Grammaire bomerique
FioFos); yirea is brea ("firea) etc.. (Paris, 1942), p.341 n. 2.
2 7
E. Lobel, (ed.) The Oxyrhyncbus A Hellenistic date for Corinna was
Papyri pt. 23 (London, 1956), p.63. D. L. Page first suggested by E. Lobel, 'Corinna',
(655 PMG) says of/"epoid 'non intellegitur'. Hermes 65 (1930), 356-65.
3
H. Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches * The traditional date for Corinna is
Worterbuch ii (Heidelberg, 1973), 559-60 based on ancient testimonia linking her with
and 650-2. Pindar and Myrtis. See D. L. Page, Corinna
4
Frisk i. 470. The F oi *FePe~ ' s (London, 1953), pp. 65-84. The question of
'visible' in //. 1.204, 233, and elsewhere. her date has generated lively controversy.
 DEE LESSER CLAYMAN 397
Boeotian, the form fepoia. is evidence that there was no contamination between
elpu) and epeco but that both are derived from the stem *fepef-.
In any case, it seems likely that TO. fepoia means 'The Narratives', etpco can
mean 'to narrate' as at Od. 12. 453 and //. 2.493, while epeco, like icrropecj, may
also have that meaning.9 'The Narratives' would be an appropriate title for
Corinna's poem which seems to contain stories from Boeotian myth, and Corinna
herself would not be out of place singing 'lovely tales' to her audience at Tanagra.
Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, DEE LESSER CLAYMAN
City University of New York

v
The noun laropia as 'narrative' appears
in Hdt. 7.96; Arist. Rh. 136Oa37 andPo.
1451 b 3.