Oppian's Halieutica

Classics and Ancient History Seminar Series: ‘Etymology in Oppian’s Halieutica: between poetry, philology, and scholarship’ (Prof. Athanassios Vergados, University of Newcastle)

5:00pm - 6:00pm / Tuesday 23rd October 2018 / Venue: Walbank Lecture Theatre Abercromby SQ (south)
Type: Seminar / Category: Department / Series: Classics and Ancient History Seminar Series
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This paper examines a didactic instrument in Oppian’s Halieutica that has not been adequately examined thus far: the etymological explanations for some of the fish names presented in the poem. Names fulfill several functions in the Halieutica. On a basic level, they may reflect a physical characteristic of the fish in question. A name may also reflect the circumstances of a fish’s generation, or the fish’s habits. Thus at 1.158-9 the fish named Adonis also bears the name exokoitos (‘Sleeper-Out’), because it establishes its lairs (koitas) outside (ektos) the sea. In some cases, the fish’s name relates to the tasks or activities it performs: e.g., the karkinos is also called pinnophylax (‘Pinna-Guard’) because it guards the pinna-fish.

The correct name may be separated from its explanation. Thus, at 1.104 the narke bears a ‘true name’, but we have to wait until 2.56-85 to find out why the name is ‘true’. Having learned this lesson, the audience can understand the brief reference at 3.153. At times, the word that would trigger the figura etymologica has to be supplied by the audience, thus occasioning a sort of Ergänzungsspiel. But Oppian also knows that apparent connections between words are not always valid, as in the case of the malthe (1.371) that did not receive its name because of its softness.

These etymologies inscribe the Halieutica in the generic didactic tradition beginning with Hesiod, who also exhibits a pronounced interest in the names’ meaning and is programmatically evoked at 1.80-92. As well, they reveal the poet’s learnedness: not only does he know the fishes’ names; he can also explain why (some of) these fishes received these names. Finally, the etymologized names related to the fishes’ habits or tasks/activities imply that the fish possess a will and a personality. This resonates with an important theme in the Halieutica, viz. the extreme humanization of the fish which are endowed with metis and dolos, are subjected to similar passions as humans (e.g. zelos, greed, eros, pothos), and are indeed likened to humans through several similes.