Greek quote in Duane's Wizard series?
David Silberstein
[I'm in a showing-off sort of mood]
I was in the bookstore the other night, and seeing /So You Want to be A
Wizard/, by Diane Duane, reminded me that I had been wanting to make a
note of Fred's full name, which is:
Khairelikoblephareglukumeilichephreidosd'enagouni
As I wrote it down, I noticed that the last part seemed very familiar (and
the earlier parts looked suspiciously like language as well).
The last part could very well be broken up into "dos d'en agouni", which
is the first part of what the macaw, Macchu Picchu (Peach for short),
utters when Nita and Kit first meet her ("She only speaks in tongues to
show off"):
Dos d'en agouni nikyn toude pheresthai
A couple of years ago, someone asked about what it might
mean. It appears that it is Classical Greek, and that the
phrase is from one of the Homeric Hyms to Aphrodite.
http://google.com/groups?threadm=40n8kt0thpmgjmgu3j5ug7b1ku6l8binpq%404ax.com
Since the last part of Fred's name and the first part of Peach's phrase
match up, I wondered if they were in fact from the same poem. Sure
enough, when I went to the Persus website (classical texts online), I
found that Homeric Hymn # 5, the 2nd hymn to Aphrodite, appears to be the
one:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0137:hymn=6
So:
Khairelikoblephareglukumeilichephreidosd'enagouni
ought to be broken up as:
Khair elikoblephare glukumeiliche phrei dos d'en agouni
because the phrase is transliterated on the web page as:
chair' helikoblephare, glukumeiliche dos d' en agôni
(for those whose newsfeeds break the characters , ô=o^ (o-caret))
(and continues on: "nikên tôide pheresthai,")(emên d' entunon aoidên.)
(ê=e^ (e-caret))
And the full phrase is translated (by Hugh G. Evelyn-White) as:
Hail, sweetly-winning, coy-eyed goddess! Grant that I may
gain the victory in this contest, and order you my song.
Now, looking at the text, the only thing that is out of place in Fred's
name is "phrei", right before "dos". And Perseus refuses to give a single
clue as to what it might mean.
Hmm. My colloquial Greek dictionary gives only two words that begin with
"phrei-" - the transliterations of the non-Greek names "Frederick" and
"Frederica".
I give up. It looks like despite the Classical Greek, Fred is indeed
Fred. Go figure.
Chris Camfield
There's a noun, phreiar - but it's a well or cistern. That makes no sense.
"Phreo" is a root in verbs like diaphreo (to let through) but can't stand on its
own.
I wonder if it's a deliberately nonsensical intrusion added by the author to
confuse people such as us. :-)
Chris