PINDAR, NEMEAN 3.36: ΕΓΚΟΝΗΤΙ AND GREEK LEXICA

Abstract This paper argues that: (a) the transmitted text of Pind. Nem. 3.35–6 ποντίαν Θέτιν κατέμαρψεν | ἐγκονητί (‘[Peleus] caught the sea-nymph Thetis quickly’) is not the original text of Pindar; (b) ἐγκονητί does not fit the context, is not an attested Greek word and should be eliminated from dictionaries of ancient Greek; (c) Byzantine etymological works, followed by many modern scholars, base their explanations on the late antique form ἀκονητί, which should be eliminated from classical, Hellenistic and imperial texts; (d) the tradition of the Etymologicum Magnum knows the variant ἐγκονιτί (conjectured for Pindar by Bergk) ‘with dust’ (‘with effort’), which seems presupposed by the scholia on Pindar; (e) the form ἐγκονιτί (created on the pattern of ἀκονιτί) is to be preferred in Pindar for reasons of language and content and should be added to the dictionaries of ancient Greek.

All manuscripts (BDV) and editions present this text, except for differences in colometry or in orthographic details.This paper argues that the hapax legomenon ἐγκονητί, even if attested in all the manuscripts, does not fit the context and is not the original text of Pindar. 4In fact, ἐγκονητί is not an attested Greek word and should not occur in dictionaries of ancient Greek.Byzantine etymological works, followed by many modern scholars, offer explanations of ἐγκονητί that are linguistically impossible (see below, section 2.2).Bergk conjectured ἐγκονιτί, 5 but did not note that his text was attested as a variant in the indirect tradition and was probably presupposed by the scholia.ἐγκονιτί is to be preferred in Pindar for reasons of language and content, and should be added to the dictionaries of ancient Greek.

ἐγκονητί 'by perseverance'/'with effort'
In fact, translators and commentators do not normally translate ἐγκονητί as 'quickly', even if they do not explicitly make the observations offered in the previous paragraph.Dictionaries offer other meanings: 'actively, vigorously, by perseverance' (LSJ), 'quickly or by perseverance-ref.to capturing someone' (Cambridge Greek Lexicon). 11'By perseverance' clearly fits the context better.It is, however, the exact opposite of 'quickly'.The adverb, attested only once, would thus have two completely opposite meanings.No linguistic explanations are offered for this meaning in modern scholarship, nor is it possible to find a link with the attested usage of ἐγκονέω.
Other interpreters suggest the translation 'with effort', with some stylistic variations (Svarlien: 'after many struggles'; Race: 'with great effort'; Pfeijffer: 'with great effort'; Cannatà Fera: 'a fatica, con sforzo' ['with difficulty, with effort']; DGE [n.6]: 'esforzadamente'). 12This explanation, appropriate in the context but with no modern linguistic justification, derives from Byzantine lexicographical works. 13In addition to Pind.Nem.3.36, the adverb ἐγκονητί is attested only five times, all in grammatical or exegetical works that are clearly related to the Pindaric passage.We will discuss four occurrences here, and the last one (from the scholia on Pindar) in section 4. 14 (1) Suda ε 110 Adler ἐγκονητί only reports the lemma, without any explanation or gloss, and can be disregarded.
Three Byzantine Etymologica (Genuinum, Magnum and Symeonis) 15 interpret ἐγκονητί as 'with difficulty', 'with effort', and offer this suggestion in the context of a discussion of a different adverb, ἀκονητί: akonêti: 'without effort' [ ponos]; its opposite is enkonêti 'with effort', by mutation of pi into kappa, aponêti akonêti in Ionic, as in pôs kôs, pote kote.
(4) Etym.Sym.α 412: ἀκονητί⋅ ἀπὸ τοῦ κόνις κονιτί καὶ ἀκονιτί, ἄνευ πόνου, οὗ τὸ ἐναντίον ἐγκονητί, μετὰ πόνου.ἀπὸ τοῦ κόνις <***>. 16onêti: from the word konis ['dust'] koniti and akoniti; its opposite is enkonêti 'with effort'.From konis <…> The linguistic explanations of the lexicographers are clearly inadequate. 17The etymological connection with ponos 'toil', 'effort' is fanciful (ἐγκονητί is not attested in a text in Ionic, but in Pindar).The other explanations are based on the adverb ἀκονητί, which arose by itacism from the classical form ἀκονιτί 'without dust', that is, 'without struggle', 'easily' (see below, section 3).This connection is linguistically impossible for Pindar, who did not know and did not use itacistic forms.The adverb ἀκονητί came into usage over nine hundred years after the death of Pindar, in the fourth or fifth century A.D. 18 In the TLG online corpus, Diod.Sic.19.42.2 and 20.57.3 are the only two earlier instances of ἀκονητί. 19The editions by Fischer and Vogel, Bizière, and Durvye print ἀκονητί (MS R) but provide no argument for preferring this to ἀκονιτί, transmitted 16 The apparatus criticus of Lasserre and Livadaras (n.15) reads as follows: 'ἀπὸ τοῦ κόνις initium est secundae partis glossae, de qua cf.EM 676, a Symeone perperam cum primae commixtae'.The text of the Etymologica will be discussed again below, section 4.2. 17Pfeijffer (n. 3) on Nem.3.35-6 offers a linguistic explanation but mixes three different hypotheses.He claims that the adverb means 'with great effort' (as in the Byzantine Etymologica), that it is linked to the verb ἐγκονέω (which does not indicate 'great efforts'), and that it alludes to the dust raised by wrestlers.Pfeijffer mistakes ἐγκονέω for ἐγκονίομαι when he writes that 'the verb ἐγκονέω literally means "to raise dust", as an emblem for doing things eagerly or in haste (Od.7.340, Il. 24.648 […])'.In fact, ἐγκονέω does not have an etymological connection with κόνις, and the quoted Homeric examples contradict the idea of 'raising dust': raising dust while making the bed would not have made Achilles happy.The mistaken link with 'dust' is common: L.G. Dissen (ed.), Pindari carmina quae supersunt (Gotha and Erfurdt, 1830) 'non sine pulvere'; J. Rumpel, Lexicon Pindaricum (Lipsiae, 1883), s.v.ἐγκονητί 'non sine pulvere, magno cum labore'; W.J. Slater, Lexicon to Pindar (Berlin, 1969), s.v.ἐγκονητί 'non sine pulvere i.e. vigorously' (the first explanation is etymologically impossible, and the second is not semantically connected to the first one).The connection with 'dust' is on the right track (see below, section 4), but wrong for ἐγκονητί.
by the other extant manuscript, F. 20 Diodorus elsewhere has ἀκονιτί, 21 which should be printed also in Books 19 and 20.
The classical form ἀκονιτί, however, will offer the key to the correct interpretation of the passage of Pindar.

ΑΚΟΝΙΤΙ
The adverb ἀκονιτί derives from κόνις, 'dust', 22 and is used to designate a triumphant and complete sporting victory: one wins ἀκονιτί, 'dustless', when opponents, afraid to receive major injuries or permanent physical damage, do not ever dare to appear and compete.Ancient sources attest ἀκονιτί victories almost exclusively for contact sports: 23 wrestling, boxing and, above all, pankration. 24The victory is 'without dust' because the athletes did not need to sprinkle themselves over with sand, as they normally did: see the verb ἐγκονίομαι in Xen.Symp.3.8. 25κονιτί victories are already attested in the sixth century B.C. (ἀσσκονικτεί, CEG 1.372). 26This adverb is widely used both in reference to athletic contests 27 and (metaphorically) about military victories. 28Quintus of Smyrna (4.319) also uses the adjective ἀκόνιτος, 'without dust, combat or struggle' (LSJ s.v.).

Bergk
Bergk conjectured ἐγκονιτί, implying that it had the same meaning as ἐγκονητί: 'getting dusty', that is, 'with great effort'. 29The assumed itacistic error (ἐγκονιτί → ἐγκονητί) is simple and common.The meaning would be clearly appropriate in the context: the erotic struggle between Peleus and Thetis is compared to an athletic struggle. 30
V m writes ϊ above the -η-of ἐγκονητί.This supralinear variant, strangely omitted by Lasserre and Livadaras, is clearly visible in the online digital reproduction of the manuscript that we were able to check, 31 and it was already reported by Gaisford.
According to Lasserre and Livadaras, the variant readings reported under the siglum V m derive from a manuscript of the Etymologicum Magnum; V m must be considered an independent witness of the tradition of that Etymologicum. 32The Etymologica cannot but rely on Nem.3.36 for the form ἐγκονητί/ἐγκονιτί.It is thus possible that the non-itacistic version of V m depends on an ancient variant reading ἐγκονιτί derived from Pindar's text.It cannot be excluded that the iota was added under the influence of ἀκονιτί (in opposition to ἀκονητί).We have, however, other signs that support the supposition that a variant reading was known to the scholia and the etymological tradition.
enkonêti: it means energôs.The metaphor is drawn from the athletes.
The first part of the scholium (ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐνεργῶς) clearly explains the form ἐγκονητί with êta.In this context, ἐνεργῶς means 'quickly' (not 'vigorously'), as often in scholia. 33The adjective ἐνεργός means 'quick' already in the Hellenistic Age. 34The scholium thus explains ἐγκονητί as connected to ἐγκονέω.This is etymologically plausible and follows a linguistic and exegetical tradition that is fundamentally different from that of the Etymologica.However, as we saw (section 2.1), the meaning 'quick' does not fit the context.The second part of the scholium (ἡ μεταφορὰ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀθλευόντων) evidently refers to a different reading.The form ἐγκονητί, 'quickly', cannot be understood as a metaphorical expression.As often, the scholia, in the form that reached us, mix different explanations which support different textual variants. 35We cannot suppose that the scholium is commenting on κατέμαρψεν, since that verb is not metaphorical, in this context: it describes exactly what Peleus does.

ἐγκονιτί and ἀκονιτί
The adverb ἀκονιτί must have been well known at the time of Pindar.ἀσσκονικτεί, a Doric form of ἀκονιτί, 40 is attested before Pindar (550-525 B.C.); the form ἀκονιτί is common in the fifth century, also in metaphorical usage. 41CEG 2.844.5 (fourth century B.C.) uses ἀκονιτί in reference to a victory of 474; this must have been reported in some official record from the time of the victory, and the list that accompanies CEG 2.844 does include the indication Πυθοῖ πὺξ ἀκονιτί. 42Pindar offers the first attestation of another common technical term, again with an adverb in -τι, namely ἀπτωτί, 'without taking a fall' (Ol.9.92). 43Pindar's familiarity with technical terms related to sport is obvious; furthermore, he uses another adverb in -τι, ἀβοατί, 'without summons' (Nem.8.9).The adjective *ἐγκόνιτος is not attested, but Xenophon in a sporting context uses the verb ἐγκονίομαι, 'sprinkle sand over oneself' (Symp.3.8; see above, section 3); we also find the form ἐνκονιστάς, 'gymnast' (IG VII 2420, Thebes, third century B.C.).44 This shows that forms combining the prefix ἐνand the root of the noun κόνις were common in ancient Greek sporting terminology, and that they are attested shortly after Pindar.Many adverbs in -ι or -τι were created at times when a corresponding adjective was not in use or was not attested. 45he form ἐγκονιτί was thus easily understandable on the basis of its transparent etymology (the prefix ἐν-, the root of the noun κόνις, the suffix -τι) and of its clear opposition to ἀκονιτί.Among old examples of excellence is King Peleus, who rejoiced when he cut a matchless spear, and who alone, without an army, captured Iolcus, [35] and caught the sea-nymph Thetis in a dusty struggle.