Orphic Fragments (1922) - Page 17

PART ONE

MORE IMPORTANT TESTIMONIES Refers to early historical accounts and literary evidence regarding Orpheus's life and influence.

1. ON THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS

THE NAME.

1. Orpheus original Greek: 'Ορφεύς commonly; Orphas original: 'Ορφας on the metope of the Sicyonians A "metope" is a rectangular architectural element on a temple frieze; the Sicyonians were a Greek people from the Peloponnese. (or perhaps the Syracusans? Dinsmoor, Bulletin of Hellenic Correspondence XXXVI 1912, 495) of the treasury unearthed at Delphi (Excavations at Delphi, Sculpture IV 4).
2. "Orphes of the famous name" original Greek: 'Ονομακλητὸν 'Ορφήν (Onomaklēton Orphēn), in the accusative case according to Ibycus, fragment 10 A, in Bergk's 4th edition, from Herodian's General Prosody Book I, cited in Priscian VI 92 (Grammatici Latini II 276, 10 Keil). Bergk changed this into the nominative case, with Lentz (I 14) agreeing; Bechtel, however, defends the accusative form, citing the Arcadian word for priest (hierēs) (Bechtel, Greek Dialects I 354 § 69) and the Cypriot version of priest (hierēs) (likewise, I 427 § 49).
3. Orphes and Orphen in the Doric dialect A regional dialect of ancient Greece. according to Priscian, page 276, line 5.
4. Fulgentius, Mythologies III 10, page 77, line 16 Helm (the source for the Vatican Mythographers III 8, 20; and Raschke, On Albericus the Mythologist, Breslau Philological Treatises 45, 1913, 87) states: "Orpheus is said to be 'oreafone' [best voice], that is, the best voice, while Eurydice indeed means 'profound judgment'." Fulgentius uses a creative, though linguistically inaccurate, medieval etymology to give the names moral significance.
Bacchic Orpheus original: Ορφεος Βακχικός (Orpheos Bakchikos) see number 150.
In attempting to explain the name, a great many learned men have taken risks; their efforts were compiled by Gruppe in Roscher’s Lexicon III 1062. Those who interpret the name from the Greek language also bring forward Orphe original: 'Ορφην, the daughter of Dion, King of the Laconians (Scholiast on Virgil's Eclogues VIII 29; Sam Wide, Cults of Laconia 211; Eitrem, Contributions to the History of Greek Religion III 1920, 147; Robert, Heroic Sagas I 398 note 3), Orphondas original: 'Ορφώνδας, a Boeotian proper name (Pausanias X 7, 7; Bechtel, Historical Personal Names 508), orphoi original: ὀρφούς, prophetic fish in the sanctuary of Apollo in Lycia (Polycharmus in the second book of Lycian Affairs, Fragments of Greek Historians IV 479 fragment 1 and Aelian, On the Nature of Animals XII 1), or they connect it with the word orphnos original: ὀρφνός, meaning "dark" or "dusky", according to the Orphic collection by Kern.