Descripción

From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Partly bleached jacket, overall very good and clean. / Teils verblichener Umschlag, insgesamt sehr gut und sauber. - Contents: 1. Etymological Thinking and Wordplay before Vergil -- 1.1. Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns -- 1.2. Tragedy, Pre-Socratics and Sophists, and the Cratylus -- 1.3. The Stoics (and Epicurus) -- 1.4. The Alexandrian Poets -- 1.5. Etymological Thought and Rome -- 1.6. Poets at Rome -- 2. Typical Features of Vergilian Etymological Wordplay -- 2.1. Paronomasia -- 2.2. The Single-Adjective Gloss -- 2.3. Etymologizing [kat� antiphrasin] -- 2.4. Etymologizing of Proper Names -- 2.5. The Explicit Gloss or Derivation -- 2.6. Naming Constructions as Etymological Signposts -- 2.7. Suppression -- 2.8. Framing -- 2.9. Vertical Juxtaposition in Consecutive Lines -- 2.10. Changes of Names or Alternate Names -- 2.11. Etymologizing with Languages Other Than Latin and Greek -- 2.12. Clustering -- 2.13. Playing with the Tradition, or Allusion to Earlier Etymologizing -- 2.14. Later Comment -- 3. The Poetic Function of Vergilian Etymologizing -- 4. About the Catalogue -- Catalogue of Etymological Wordplay -- The Aeneid -- The Eclogues -- The Georgies. - In ancient thinking about etymology, knowledge of a term�s origin meant knowledge of the essential qualities of the person, place, or thing it named. While scholars have long noted Vergil�s allusions to etymologies, interest in such wordplay has grown rapidly in recent years and lies at the heart of contemporary scholarship�s growing concern with the learned aspects and Alexandrian background of Vergilian poetry. In his new book, James O�Hara has produced a richly annotated, comprehensive collection of examples of etymological wordplay in the Aeneid, Eclogues, and Georgies. An extensive introduction on the etymologizing of Vergil and his poetic forerunners places the poet in historical context and analyzes the form and style of his wordplay. O�Hara also discusses how etymologizing served Vergil�s poetic goals, and he explains how the role of word origins in Vergil�s poems illuminates the origins and essential characteristics of the Roman people. The etymological catalog quotes each Vergilian passage, then explains the wordplay or possible wordplay, and refers to ancient grammarians and poets who mention similar etymologies. While bibliographical references are provided for most examples, many entries describe examples of wordplay never before noticed. Throughout the catalog, extensive cross-references direct the reader and render consultation easy. True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian Tradition of Etymological Wordplay presents in a convenient format an enormous amount of information crucial for understanding Vergil, while offering an extensive analysis of the data it provides. The goal throughout is to help modern readers see more of what ancient readers saw. The volume confronts the difficult problem of establishing criteria to distinguish genuine examples of wordplay from doubtful ones in a manner applicable to other ancient authors. It sheds light on the nature of Alexandrian poetry and on the question of how to read poetry that makes extensive demands on the reader�s knowledge. The result is a volume that will be of interest to anyone reading, teaching, or writing about Vergil, Greek and Latin literature, and poetic technique. - JAMES J. O�HARA is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Wesleyan University. ISBN 9780472106608