PURA. Purism In Antiquity: Theories Of Language in Greek Atticist Lexica and their Legacy

Lexicographic entries

μάλιστα ὁμοιότατος
(Antiatt. μ 29)

A. Main sources

(1) Antiatt. μ 29: μάλιστα ὁμοιότατος· Ἡρόδοτος εʹ.

μάλιστα ὁμοιότατος: Herodotus in the fifth book. (cf. F.1)


B. Other erudite sources

(1) [Hdn.] Περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων 73 Dain: ἔτι ἁμαρτάνουσιν οἱ λέγοντες ‘μᾶλλον πλουσιώτερος τοῦ δεῖνος’ καὶ ‘μᾶλλον πενέστερος·’ ἀμφότερα γὰρ συγκριτικά ἐστι καὶ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ πλουσιώτερος. οὐ δύναται δὲ ὁμοῦ δύο συγκριτικὰ πίπτειν· ἐροῦμεν οὖν τὸ ἕτερον. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑπερθετικῶν παραφυλακτέον· οὐκ εἴποις γὰρ ‘μάλιστα εὐγενέστατος’, ἀλλ’ ἢ ‘εὐγενέστατος’ κάθ’ αὑτό, ἢ ‘μάλιστα εὐγενής’.

Also those who say ‘more richer (μᾶλλον πλουσιώτερος) than someone’ and ‘more poorer’ (μᾶλλον πενέστερος) make a mistake. For both ‘more’ (μᾶλλον) and ‘richer’ (πλουσιώτερος) are comparatives. It is not possible to use two comparatives at the same time: let us therefore use either of them. The same must also be avoided in superlatives: for you should not say ‘the most noblest’ (μάλιστα εὐγενέστατος), but either ‘noblest’ (εὐγενέστατος) alone or ‘most noble’ (μάλιστα εὐγενής).


(2) Thom.Mag. 237.17–238.12: οὐ λογογράφων τὸ λέγειν ‘μᾶλλον πλουσιώτερος’ καὶ ‘μᾶλλον ἀνδρειότερος’, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ‘μάλιστα πλουσιώτατος’· περιτταὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄκαιροι αἱ τοιαῦται προσθῆκαι. τὸ γὰρ πλουσιώτερος συγκριτικὸν ὂν οὐ δεῖται ἑτέρου συγκριτικοῦ τοῦ μᾶλλον. ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ πλουσιώτατος ὑπερθετικὸν ὂν οὐ δεῖται ἑτέρου ὑπερθετικοῦ τοῦ μάλιστα. ποιηταὶ δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ ἕτερ’ ἄττα καινοτομοῦσι, καὶ τοῦτο ἔστιν ὅτε ποιοῦσιν. Αἰσχύλος ἐν τοῖς Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβαις· ‘καλῶς τεθνάναι κάλλιον ἂν μᾶλλον ἢ σεσῶσθαι’. καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης· ‘τόδ’ ἂν γένοιτο μᾶλλον ὀλβιώτερον’. οὐδεὶς δὲ τῶν δοκίμων ῥητόρων οὕτως εἶπε.

To say μᾶλλον πλουσιώτερος and μᾶλλον ἀνδρειότερος does not suit prose-writers, nor does μάλιστα πλουσιώτατος. These additions are superfluous and ill-suited. For πλουσιώτερος, being a comparative, does not need another comparative, μᾶλλον. Similarly, also πλουσιώτατος, being a superlative, does not need another superlative, μάλιστα. The poets however, as in other similar cases, use innovative forms, and this is an example of when they do it. Aeschylus in the Seven against Thebes (fr. 453) says: ‘to die beautifully is much more beautiful (κάλλιον … μᾶλλον) than to be saved’. And Aristophanes (Ec. 1131): ‘what could be luckier?’ (μᾶλλον ὀλβιώτερον). However, none of the approved orators used such expressions.


C. Loci classici, other relevant texts

(1) Hom. Il. 24.334–5:
Ἑρμεία, σοὶ γάρ τε μάλιστά γε φίλτατόν ἐστιν
ἀνδρὶ ἑταιρίσσαι […].

Hermes, since it is very dear to you to accompany a man […].


(2) Hdt. 2.76.3: πτίλα δὲ οὐ πτερωτὰ φορέει, ἀλλὰ τοῖσι τῆς νυκτερίδος πτεροῖσι μάλιστά κῃ ἐμφερέστατα.

[The ibis] does not have feathered wings, but [wings] that are very like those of the bat.


(3) Thuc. 7.42.3: καὶ γιγνώσκων ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ μάλιστα δεινότατός ἐστι τοῖς ἐναντίοις […].

And [Demosthenes] knowing that he also in the present moment was most terrible to the enemy on the very first day [after his arrival…].


(4) Hdt. 2.73.2: ἔστι δέ, εἰ τῇ γραφῇ παρόμοιος, τοσόσδε καὶ τοιόσδε· τὰ μὲν αὐτοῦ χρυσόκομα τῶν πτερῶν, τὰ δὲ ἐρυθρά. ἐς τὰ μάλιστα αἰετῷ περιήγησιν ὁμοιότατος καὶ τὸ μέγαθος.

[The phoenix], if it is like its picture, is such in size and shape: the plumage of its wings is partly golden, partly red. It is most like an eagle in shape and bigness.


(5) Eur. Hipp. 1421:
ὃς ἂν μάλιστα φίλτατος κυρῆι βροτῶν.

Whoever turns out to be the dearest to her among mortals […].


(6) Pl. Ti. 92b.1–2: τὸ δὲ τέταρτον γένος ἔνυδρον γέγονεν ἐκ τῶν μάλιστα ἀνοητοτάτων καὶ ἀμαθεστάτων […].

And the fourth kind [of animal], which lives in the water, came from the most utterly thoughtless and stupid [of men].


(7) Hp. Mul. 66.12–3: μετὰ δὲ τὴν φαρμακείην διαιτῇν διαίτῃ τοιαύτῃ, ἐν ὁποίῃ ἂν εἴη μάλιστα ξηροτάτη ἡ ἄνθρωπος.

After the medication, prescribe the kind of regimen through which the woman may be most dry.


(8) Arist. Mete. 365b.30–1: ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὸ ἐπὶ πλεῖστόν τε πεφυκὸς ἰέναι καὶ σφοδρότατον μάλιστα τοιοῦτον εἶναι.

By necessity [the body which has the most motive power] is that which naturally moves in the most prolonged way and is most violent [in its movement].


(9) Thphr. De pietate fr. 2.13–4 Pötscher: τούτοις γὰρ καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἀθάνατον ἐφύλαττον ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ὡς ὂν μάλιστα αὐτοῖς ὁμοιότατον.

For they kept an immortal fire for them [the gods] in the temples since it is the element most similar to them.


(10) Ister fr. 48.6–7: γραψάμενος αὐτῆς ὡς ὅτι μάλιστα ὁμοιοτάτην εἰκόνα […].

Having painted a picture of her as similar as possible as possible […].


(11) D.S. 18.37.2: ἀπέκτειναν δὲ καὶ τῶν φίλων τοῦ Περδίκκου τοὺς μάλιστα πιστοτάτους […].

They [the Macedonians] also killed the most faithful of Perdiccas’ friends […].


(12) Ph. De ebrietate 204.3–4: ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁπότε ἄριστα βεβουλεῦσθαι δοκεῖ, τότε μάλιστα ἀβουλότατος ὢν εὑρίσκεται τῶν πραγμάτων μὴ ὅμοιον τοῖς προσδοκηθεῖσι λαβόντων τὸ τέλος.

But when [the mind] seems to deliberate at its best, it is then that it is found to be most deprived of thought […].


(13) P.Grenf. 1.42.5–6 (= TM 266) [Diospolis Parva, 169/168 BCE): […] ἐν τοῖς μάλιστʼ ἀναγκαιοτάτοις [καιροῖς].

[…] in the most constrained circumstances […].


(14) Procop. Vand. 4.28.8: τῷ δὲ Γρηγορίῳ ἐπέστελλε τῶν Ἀρμενίων πολλοὺς τοὺς μάλιστα εὐτολμοτάτους […].

He ordered Gregorius [to pick] many of the most courageous of the Armenians […].


(15) Anna Comnene Alexiad 14.4.9: ἀλλ’ ἐπέχειν τὸν λόγον ἀνάγκη τὴν γλῶτταν ἐνδακόντας καὶ μὴ παρεκθέειν τῆς λεωφόρου, κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα προθυμότατος ᾖ κατὰ τῶν κακουργοτάτων ἐφάλλεσθαι.

But it is necessary that I bite my tongue and hold my words and not run off the track, even though I am most eager to leap upon those very mischievous men.


(16) Eust. in Il. 2.768.12–5: ἐν δὲ τῷ παῖδα μόνον τηλύγετον πολλοῖς ἐπὶ κτήμασι δηλοῖ Ὅμηρος φιλοτεκνότατον μάλιστα πατέρα εἶναι […].

In the line ‘his only and darling son, [heir] to great riches’ (cf. Hom. Il. 9.82) Homer shows that [Peleus] is a most loving father […].


D. General commentary

The Antiatticist lemma is devoted to the intensification of superlatives through the superlative adverb μάλιστα. From the perspective of standard grammar (cf. B.1, B.2), this construction is incorrect as it characterises the highest degree of the adjective through another superlative (as in, e.g., **the most highest). It is, however, not uncommon in Greek, where the double marking of comparatives and superlatives is attested in various forms (Gignac 1981, 157 calls this ‘double comparison’). The most common kind of double marking is morphological. This arises from the need to re-characterise formations that are no longer transparent, as for instance with μειζότερος and μεγιστότατος, which formally show two degree-markers (the phenomenon is addressed in the entry on ἀμεινότερος). Conversely, the double comparison of μάλιστα + superlative has a pragmatic motivation: the speaker wishes to further intensify the highest degree of the adjective for emphasis or emotional involvement. This kind of intensification is typically found in elatives, i.e. in superlatives that are not set against a ‘standard’, as in the sentence She is very smart (on elatives, see Keydana, Hock, Widmer 2012, 23–4). Most examples of μάλιστα + superlative in this entry are elatives (though see C.5, C.11, and C.14 for exceptions).

The use of μάλιστα with a superlative must be partly due to the fact that μάλιστα could accompany positive adjectives to form superlatives (e.g. μάλιστα ἐχθρός ‘most hateful’: for the various usages of this function of μάλιστα, see Schwab 1893–1895, vol. 1, 5–40). At the same time, it is possible that it was influenced by syntactic contexts in which μάλιστα modified another part of the sentence, rather than the superlative itself. The clearest examples are those where a strengthened form of μάλιστα such as ὡς μάλιστα and ὅτι μάλιστα appears. Consider the following passage from Antiphon 1.28Antiphon 1.28: οὐ γὰρ δή που μαρτύρων γ’ ἐναντίον οἱ ἐπιβουλεύοντες τοὺς θανάτους τοῖς πέλας μηχανῶνταί τε καὶ παρασκευάζουσιν, ἀλλ’ ὡς μάλιστα δύνανται λαθραιότατα (‘For surely those who plot the murder of those close to them do not make their schemes and preparations in front of witnesses, but as much as they can in the utmost secrecy’), where ὡς μάλιστα – though occurring close to a superlative – in fact modifies δύνανται. Indeed, one might argue that the same interpretation could apply to some of the earliest examples in which μάλιστα occurs near to a superlative. Thus, in C.1 μάλιστα could be taken with σοί (‘for it is very dear especially to you’), though it is usually interpreted as a strengthened superlative (see e.g. Macleod 1982, 115; the same could also apply to ἔχθιστος δ’ Ἀχιλῆϊ μάλιστ’ of Hom. Il. 2.220Hom. Il. 2.220; according to Zeilfelder 2001, 363, however, this is a superlative expressing a ‘scalar’ notion). Similarly, in C.2, μάλιστα might refer only to τῆς νυκτερίδος πτεροῖσι (‘[wings] that are very likely those of the bat above all’); and in C.3, it could be taken as emphasising τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ (‘he was most terrible to the enemy especially on the very first day’).

Be that as it may, at some point μάλιστα evidently became merely a strategy to intensify a superlative, as is already evident in C.5. Rarely used in poetry (cf. C.1, C.5, and the Aeschylus and Aristophanes lines quoted in B.2), the usage is typical of prose (see C.6, C.7, C.8, C.9 and C.10), especially from the 4th century onwards, and there is seemingly no detectable distinction between Attic and Ionic, high- and low-register texts. Prose authors include, among others, the 3rd-century BCE historian Ister (C.10), Diodorus Siculus (C.11), Philo of Alexandria (C.12), and Procopius (C.14), as well as Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Appianus, Origenes, Cyril, etc. An occasional attestation in papyri is C.13 (cf. Mayser, Gramm. vol. 1,3, 51). Superlatives strengthened by μάλιστα are also found in Dio Chrysostom and Aelian (see Schmidt vol. 1, 93; vol. 3, 61), which shows they were admissible in the most Atticising prose.

We have no evidence that this construction was condemned in 2nd-century CE Atticist lexica, in spite of the proscription in the pseudo-Herodianic treatise Περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων (B.1). However, Thomas Magister’s criticism (B.2) makes it probable that a proscription against this kind of construction must have existed in earlier Atticist lexica, too: for a parallel, see the lemmas of the Eclogue (106Phryn. Ecl. 106 , 382Phryn. Ecl. 382) that criticise double comparatives such as ἀμεινότερος and καλλιώτερος (see entry ἀμεινότερος, ῥᾳότερος). On balance, a likely scenario is that the Antiatticist entry was meant to trace a common usage of Post-classical Greek back to the classical age, though why the lexicon resorts to Herodotus and not Thucydides (C.3) or Plato (C.6) is impossible to say (on this, see F.1).

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

In Byzantine Greek, μάλιστα + superlative can be used where intensification of the superlative is required. The construction tends to be more common among non-Atticising authors (in the example from Anna Comnene, C.15, the superlative is actually introduced by ὅτι μάλιστα, perhaps for extra emphasis), though there does not seem to be a clear distinction in register: Eustathius, a learned author, uses φιλοτεκνότατον μάλιστα ‘one who is most loving of his children’ in his commentary on the Iliad (C.16), while Michael Psellus uses τὸ μάλιστα ἐπιτιμότατον γνώρισμα ‘the most valuable mark’ in Orationes panegyricae 4.519Michael Psellus Orationes panegyricae 4.519. Double forms of the comparative, with the comparative adverb πλιό (in various forms: see CGMMG vol. 2, 815) followed by a further comparative adjective, are attested in Medieval Greek (CGMMG vol. 2, 843). The CGMMG has no information, however, on similar forms of the superlative. Double comparatives (with πιo + a synthetic comparative) are a common error in Modern Greek too, where expressions such as πιο καλύτερος are reserved only to the superlative degree ('most beautiful'). In Standard Modern Greek and its dialectal varieties, relative superlatives tend to be expressed by analytic constructions, but some residues of synthetic formations with the ancient suffix -τατος are preserved in the dialects (see Melissaropoulou, Papanagiotou 2019, 155). Various adverbs may be used with adjectives in the positive or even comparative degree to express a superlative (see Melissaropoulou, Papanagiotou 2019, 151 for some options), for instance πολύ 'very'. However, μάλιστα is not one of the adverbs that can form superlatives. As for absolute superlatives, Melissaropoulou, Papanagiotou (2019, 157) report a tendency towards synthetic formations (by means of prefixes or suffixes).

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

(1)    Antiatt. μ 29 (A.1)

The reference to Book 5 of the Histories is certainly corrupt. In the apparatus, Valente (2015, 217) comments: ‘ε′] ft. corruptum; nescio an aliquid exciderit’. As a possible Herodotean locus classicus, he tentatively suggests C.2 (μάλιστά κῃ ἐμφερέστατα, cf. van Dam 1873, 41) and wonders whether the lemma may have been influenced by εἰ τῇ γραφῇ παρόμοιος ‘if [the phoenix] is like its picture’ of Hdt. 2.73 (C.4), while rejecting τῶν ἀστῶν ἀνὴρ δόκιμος ὅμοια τῷ μάλιστα ‘as notable a man as any of his townsmen’ of Hdt. 7.118 (cf. Sicking 1883, 124). In fact, the correct locus classicus is probably still Hdt. 2.73 (C.4), though not the expression εἰ τῇ γραφῇ παρόμοιος but the one that immediately follows: ἐς τὰ μάλιστα αἰετῷ περιήγησιν ὁμοιότατος. Although this is not the simple μάλιστα that strengthens the superlative, as in the Antiatticist entry and other examples, the whole adverbial expression ἐς τὰ μάλιστα is still an intensification of ὁμοιότατος. It may be, therefore, that the compiler of the lexicon, seeking a classical model for a common feature of Post-classical Greek, chanced upon this Herodotean expression and considered it a good enough antecedent. The wrong reference to the fifth book instead of the second can easily be explained as a copying mistake from the text in majuscule (B > E).

(2)    [Hdn.] Περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων 73 Dain (B.1)

The text is retrieved by Dain (1954, 73) in cod. Par. suppl. gr. 1238. The initial part of the treatise was edited by Cramer (1835–1837) in vol. 3 of his Anecdota Graeca, and the text’s origin is briefly discussed by Dain (1954, 10–11).

Bibliography

Cramer, J.A. (1835–1837). Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium. 4 vols. Oxford.

Dain, A. (1954). Le «Philétæros» attribué à Hérodien. Paris.

van Dam, G. F. A. (1873). Observationes in lexica Segueriana. Diss. Rotterdam.

Gignac, F. T. (1981). A Grammar of the Greek Papyri of the Roman and Byzantine Times. Vol. 2: Morphology. Milan.

Keydana, G.; Hock, W.; Widmer, P. (2021). ‘Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European. An Introduction’. Keydana, G.; Hock, W.; Widmer, P. (eds.), Comparison and Gradation in Indo-European. Berlin, Boston, 1–33.

Macleod, C. W. (1982). Iliad Book XXIV. Edited by C. W. Macleod. Cambridge.

Melissaropoulou, D.; Papanagiotou, C. (2019). 'Οι υπερθετικές παραθετικές δομές στη διαλεκτική ποικιλία της Ελληνικής'. Ralli, A.;    Barka, P.; Joseph, B.; Bompolasin, S. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (MGDLT8). Gjirokastër, Patras, 145-61.

Schwab, O. (1893–1895). Historische Syntax der griechischen Comparation in der klassischen Literatur. 3 vols. Würzburg.

Sicking, L. J. (1883). Annotationes ad Antiatticistam. Amsterdam.

Valente, S. (2015). The Antiatticist. Introduction and Critical Edition. Berlin, Boston.

Zeilfelder, S. (2001). Steigern und Vergleichen in indogermanischen Sprachen. Habilitationsschrift Jena.

CITE THIS

Olga Tribulato, 'μάλιστα ὁμοιότατος (Antiatt. μ 29)', in Olga Tribulato (ed.), Digital Encyclopedia of Atticism. With the assistance of E. N. Merisio.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30687/DEA/2021/01/009

ABSTRACT
This article deasls with the double superlative μάλιστα ὁμοιότατος, discussed in the Atticist lexicon Antiatt. μ 29.
KEYWORDS

AdverbsComparativesIntensificationReduplicationSuperlativesμάλιστα

FIRST PUBLISHED ON

01/10/2022

LAST UPDATE

29/01/2024