Academic Bibliography

 Search 200 years of publications by Ghent University researchers.
Advanced search
2 files | 867.03 KB
Add to list
  1. Search results
  2. Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμε...

Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849)

Mark Janse (UGent)
(2021) CLASSICAL QUARTERLY. 71(2). p.553-559
Author
Organization
Abstract
In this short note I explore the possibility that Lysistrata’s use of the military term ἡμεροσκόπος ‘day watch’ in the introduction to the (in)famous seduction scene between Cinesias and Myrrhine (829-953) is in fact a pun based on a well-documented feature of female speech in 5th-century Attic which must have been easily recognizable as such by the audience: iotacism. I argue that ἡμεροσκόπος will have been pronounced as ἱμεροσκόπος ‘lust watch’, with a long close front unrounded [i:] instead of a long mid-open front unrounded [ε:]. By doing so, the military term, befitting the context of the occupation-plot, is perverted to a sexually charged word befitting the context of the strike-plot. The remainder of this note is structured as follows: in §1 I sketch in more detail the military vocabulary associated with the occupation-plot which occasions the use of ἡμεροσκόπος; in §2 I describe the sexual vocabulary associated with the strike-plot which invites the perversion of ἡμεροσκόπος to ἱμερο¬σκόπος; in §3 I discuss the evidence for iotacism as a feature of female speech and the likelihood that it applies to ἡμεροσκόπος; in §4 I present some conclusions.
Keywords
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, Ancient Greek, Classical Attic, Female Speech, Classical Athens, Sociolinguistics, Pronunciation, Iotacism, Pun, Wordplay, Obscene Language

Downloads

  • Download
    Daywatch or Baywatch.pdf
    • full text (Accepted manuscript)
    • |
    • open access
    • |
    • PDF
    • |
    • 425.61 KB
  • Download
    (...).pdf
    • full text (Published version)
    • |
    • UGent only
    • |
    • PDF
    • |
    • 441.42 KB

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
Janse, Mark. “Day Watch or Bay Watch? A Note on Ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849).” CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, vol. 71, no. 2, 2021, pp. 553–59, doi:10.1017/S0009838821000719.
APA
Janse, M. (2021). Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849). CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, 71(2), 553–559. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838821000719
Chicago author-date
Janse, Mark. 2021. “Day Watch or Bay Watch? A Note on Ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849).” CLASSICAL QUARTERLY 71 (2): 553–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838821000719.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Janse, Mark. 2021. “Day Watch or Bay Watch? A Note on Ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849).” CLASSICAL QUARTERLY 71 (2): 553–559. doi:10.1017/S0009838821000719.
Vancouver
1.
Janse M. Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849). CLASSICAL QUARTERLY. 2021;71(2):553–9.
IEEE
[1]
M. Janse, “Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849),” CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 553–559, 2021.
@article{8671541,
  abstract     = {{In this short note I explore the possibility that Lysistrata’s use of the military term ἡμεροσκόπος ‘day watch’ in the introduction to the (in)famous seduction scene between Cinesias and Myrrhine (829-953) is in fact a pun based on a well-documented feature of female speech in 5th-century Attic which must have been easily recognizable as such by the audience: iotacism. I argue that ἡμεροσκόπος will have been pronounced as ἱμεροσκόπος ‘lust watch’, with a long close front unrounded [i:] instead of a long mid-open front unrounded [ε:]. By doing so, the military term, befitting the context of the occupation-plot, is perverted to a sexually charged word befitting the context of the strike-plot.  The remainder of this note is structured as follows: in §1 I sketch in more detail the military vocabulary associated with the occupation-plot which occasions the use of ἡμεροσκόπος; in §2 I describe the sexual vocabulary associated with the strike-plot which invites the perversion of ἡμεροσκόπος to ἱμερο¬σκόπος; in §3 I discuss the evidence for iotacism as a feature of female speech and the likelihood that it applies to ἡμεροσκόπος; in §4 I present some conclusions.}},
  author       = {{Janse, Mark}},
  issn         = {{0009-8388}},
  journal      = {{CLASSICAL QUARTERLY}},
  keywords     = {{Aristophanes,Lysistrata,Ancient Greek,Classical Attic,Female Speech,Classical Athens,Sociolinguistics,Pronunciation,Iotacism,Pun,Wordplay,Obscene Language}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{553--559}},
  title        = {{Day watch or bay watch? A note on ἡμεροσκόπος (Ar. Lys. 849)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0009838821000719}},
  volume       = {{71}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}
Altmetric
View in Altmetric
Web of Science
Times cited: