On the continuity of laughing at other people’s misfortunes

Some fun with Aristophanes

One fifth-century BC Athenian, the stereotypically uneducated and crude Strepsiades in Aristophanes’ Clouds, has a good laugh at poor Socrates when a gecko poos into his open mouth (Clouds 171-174):

Student:

While he was investigating the paths and revolutions of the moon, mouth gaping, looking up, a gecko shat on him from the roof during the night

ζητοῦντος αὐτοῦ τῆς σελήνης τὰς ὁδους
καὶ τὰς περιφοράς, εἶτ᾽ ἄνω κεχηνότος
ἀπὸ τῆς ὀροφῆς νύκτωρ γαλεώτης κατέχεσεν.

Strepsiades:

I do like a gecko shitting on Socrates
ἥσθην γαλεώτῃ καταχέσαντι Σωκράτους

We know Strepsiades finds this hilarious because he tells us he does, echoing in his response the words used by the Student, and employed a tabooed term for excrement in Greek, chezō/χέζω, ‘shit’. We can reasonably assume that at least some of Aristophanes’ audience might also have lined up with Strepsiades in having a laugh at the philosopher’s expense, whether or not they would have admitted it.

Serious Poo

Lysistrata compares the purging of the city state to combing bits of poo from wool (Aristophanes, Lysistrata 574-5), using one of the many words for different types of animal dung which are recorded – dung with which the everyday inhabitant of the ancient world was much more familiar:

First of all, like washing out a fleece, one must wash the sheep droppings (oispōtē) out of the city in a bath

πρῶτον μὲν ἐχρῆν, ὥσπερ πόκον, ἐν βαλανείῳ
ἐκπλύναντας τὴν οἰσπώτην ἐκ τῆς πόλεως

In contrast to Socrates’ encounter with the gecko, it is important to note that even though this is in Aristophanes, there is likely nothing amusing about the scene: politicians may be being tacitly compared to dried-on sheep poo, but if there is mockery intended here, it’s of Lysistrata’s feminine homespun-wisdom which she tries to apply to the affairs of democratic state.

Amy Coker has a PhD in Classics from the University of Manchester, UK. She taught and held research positions in University-land for the best part of a decade after her PhD, before jumping ship to school teaching (11-18 year olds) in 2018. She still manages to find time to think and write about Ancient Greek offensive words, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. She can be found on Twitter at @AECoker.

A large coprolite (fossilized feces) from South Carolina, USA.

Necessary Words for Public Discourse: Ancient Greek Excrement

After witnessing a certain press conference recently, I feel compelled to re-post this with some additions. I might be adding more.

These may or may not be useful in your daily life

Σκῶρ ἀείνων, “ever-flowing shit” (Ar. Frogs, 145-6)

ὁ τῆς διαροίας ποταμὸς, “river of diarrhea” (Ar. Fr. 150.3)

σφυράδων πολλῶν ἀναμεστή, “full of many shitballs” (Eupolis, fr. 16; see Henderson 1991, 193)

μεμαγμένον σκῶρ ἐσθίειν, —αὐτὴ δ’ ἔματτεν αὐτοῖς, — “to eat the shit-cake she baked for them” (Ar. Wealth, 304)

 

Κάκκη 

Kakka:  it also has a vulgar meaning as something unclean; especially bad-smelling feces. Aristophanes writes, “holding your nose away from the kakka”.

Κάκκη: ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὸ κακέμφατον. ἡ ἀκαθαρσία, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ δύσοσμον ἀποπάτημα. Ἀριστοφάνης: ἀπὸ μὲν κάκκης ῥῖν’ ἀπέχων.

Some other words

ἀποπάτημα: feces, cf. Photius: “musikelendron: mouse excrement, muokhodon. Μυσικέλενδρον: τὸ τοῦ μυὸς ἀποπάτημα· μυόχοδον.

διαχώρημα: “leavings”; cf. Hesychius: σπατίλη· τὸ ὑγρὸν διαχώρημα: “moist feces”

ἀφόδευμα: “excrement”; cf. Hesychius, kokkilondis: A child’s excrement. κοκκιλόνδις· παιδὸς ἀφόδευμα

 

Compounds, etc.

Scholia in Aristophanes, Pacem, 24a

“boar and dog”: manure-eating animals

ὗς καὶ κύων: κοπροφάγα τὰ ζῷα.

Image result for ancient greek defecation

Necessary Compounds

κοπρόνους: “manure-minded”

κοπράγωγεω: “to collect crap”

κόπρειος: “full of crap”

κοπρολογεῖν: “to gather crap”

κοπροφαγεῖν: “to eat crap”

κοπροστόμος: “foul-mouthed”

σκατοφάγος: “shit-eater”

κόπρανα: “excrements”

κοπραγωγός: “shit-bearer”

κοπρία: “dung-heap”

κοπρίζω: “to make dung”

κοπρικός: “full of it”

κοπροθέσιον: “a place where dung is put”. ‘Shit-bucket”

κοπροδοχεῖον: “cess pool”

κοπροποιός: “dung-making”

σκατοφάγος: “shit eater”

σκαταιβάτης: “shit-walker”

σκωραμὶς: “shit pot”; cf. Ar.Lys. 371: σκωραμὶς κωμῳδική: “comedic shitpot”

 

More from the Suda

Ἅλα [usually, salt]

Hala: fecal matter [manure]. In the Odyssey “you wouldn’t even give the shit from your home to a suppliant

Ἅλα: τὰ κόπρια. ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ: οὐ σύ γ’ ἐξ οἴκου σῷ ἐπιστάτῃ οὐδ’ ἅλα δοίης.

 

Βόλιτος

Bolitos: cow-patty. Attic speakers say this without a beta, the way we say bolbitos

Βόλιτος: Ἀττικοὶ οὕτω λέγουσι χωρὶς τοῦ β, ὅπερ ἡμεῖς βόλβιτον

Also, “bullshit”; cf. Henderson 1991, 90

 

Δεισαλέα

Deiselea: Fecal matter. For excrement is deisa.

Δεισαλέα: κοπρώδη. δεῖσα γὰρ ἡ κόπρος.

 

Ὀνιαία

Oniaia: the excrement of a horse. Also, onides, the feces of donkeys which are shaped usefully.

Ὀνιαία: τοῦ ἵππου τὸ ἀφόδευμα. καὶ Ὀνίδες, τὰ τῶν ὄνων ἀποπατήματα, ἃ ἐπίτηδες πεπλασμένα ἐστίν.

 

Ὄνθος

onthos: manure. Properly, this is bull-manure.

Ὄνθος: βόλβιτον. τουτέστιν ἡ τῶν βοῶν κόπρος.

 

Οἰσυπηρός

Oisupêros: muddy, greasy as in “oily-fleeces”, wool that is filthy, covered with manure. For oisupê is the excrement of sheep.

Οἰσυπηρός: ῥυπαρός. Ἔρια οἰσυπηρά, ῥύπου πεπληρωμένα, ῥυπάσματα ἀπὸ τῆς κόπρου. οἰσύπη δέ ἐστι τὸ διαχώρημα τῶν προβάτων.

Σκῶρ

Skôr: manure, feces, it declines using skatos.

Σκῶρ: κόπρος, ἀποπάτημα. καὶ κλίνεται σκατός.

“σκῶρ, shit, expresses definite affective feelings, while κόπρος, dung, refers simply to excrement.” Henderson, The Maculate Muse (1991) 36

Φωρυτός

“Phôrutos: manure, or a trash-pile.”

Φωρυτός: κόπρος, ἢ χῶμα.

For more like this, see J. Henderson, The Maculate Muse. Oxford, 1991.

Image result for ancient greek toilet vase

A Greek Compound, A Gift of a Useful Concept

[Thanks to a thread from Facebook for letting me know about this one]

Suetonius Tranquillus, Peri Blasphemon 11.12

“According to Hipponax [fr. 114c] the “messêgudorpoxéstês” is one who often relieves himself during a meal so that he may fill himself up again”

<Κατὰ δὲ ῾Ιππώνακτα (fr. 114 c Masson), καὶ ὁ> μεσσηγυδορποχέστης, ὁ μεσοῦντος τοῦ δείπνου πολλάκις ἀποπατῶν, ὅπως πάλιν ἐμπίπληται ὁ αὐτός.

For the word-builders: messêgu (“in the middle of”) + dorpos (“dinner, meal”)+ khestês (a nomina agentis—agentive noun—from the Greek verb χέζω, “to shit”).

This is a real vase at the Museum of Fine Arts

 

And another from the Walters Art Museum:

 

pl9_482050_detc_bw_t90

The Greek Compound You Never Knew You Needed

[Thanks to a thread from Facebook for letting me know about this one]

Suetonius Tranquillus, Peri Blasphemon 11.12

“According to Hipponax [fr. 114c] the “messêgudorpoxéstês” is one who often relieves himself during a meal so that he may fill himself up again”

<Κατὰ δὲ ῾Ιππώνακτα (fr. 114 c Masson), καὶ ὁ> μεσσηγυδορποχέστης, ὁ μεσοῦντος τοῦ δείπνου πολλάκις ἀποπατῶν, ὅπως πάλιν ἐμπίπληται ὁ αὐτός.

For the word-builders: messêgu (“in the middle of”) + dorpos (“dinner, meal”)+ khestês (a nomina agentis—agentive noun—from the Greek verb χέζω, “to shit”).

This is a real vase at the Museum of Fine Arts

 

And another from the Walters Art Museum:

 

pl9_482050_detc_bw_t90