the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

314 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
The simplex crro-htov in the sense of 'that which belongs to the mouth,' ' bit,' has
been studied by W. Petersen (Greek Diminutives in -ov, p. 53), who gives ancient
references for this meaning.36 Lafaye, too, has discussed the word, with illustrations,
in his article on Frenum in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionlcaire, 1337 a. But the most
detailed study of the bit seems to be that of E. Pernice, " Griechisches Pferdegeschier "
in Berliner Winckelncanns Programmne, no. 56, Berlin, 1896. Pernice publishes two
bronze bits belonging to the fourth century B.C. which were found with muzzle and
part of headstall in a grave in Boeotia.
Prepositions other than vapa are compounded with stomion to designate parts of
the bridle. We know from Pollux that upostornia is an iron part of the bridle; 3 the
peristomnion may be the part which goes over the nose and attaches to the ends of the
bit.38 But not all of the words for the parts of the bridle are known. Marchant has
observed in a note on Chapter X of Xenophon's masterly treatise on Horsemanship, a
chapter in which the bit is described in some detail, that we do not know the Greek
terms for " the pendants to which the reins were attached " or " the curved or S-shaped
branches with eyes to which the bridle was fastened." 3 Either of these pieces might
well be described as parcastomia. Since our adjective is modifying a feminine noun
ending in sigma," some such word as labis, which can mean a clasp or buckle and has
the sense of something that one can take hold of, may be suggested.4' This would
admirably suit Marchant's second missing term, the piece to which the bridle is
fastened. The fact that a modifier parastomia was needed shows that the word was
one with a general meaning, not always associated with the bit. Moreover, the piece
was very small and might reasonably be sold for the price given on our stone, 2 obols.
The complete entry in Stele II, line 198, may now be tentatively corrected to [XaIa3il
vrapacnropFa.
11. paKta (I, 163). Bandages, rags. The word rcakos can designate a rag of any
kind, not only a ragged garment.42 Petersen has concluded, on the other hand, that
36Herodotos, I, 215; IV, 72; Aeschylus, Prom., 1009; Sophocles, El., 1462. For other meanings
of stomion, see Petersen, op. cit., pp. 50, 103, and 113.
37 I, 184; II, 100; and X, 56.
38 Cf. Hesychius s.v. rt(Kadtov.
39 Xenophon, Scriptora Minora, Loeb Classical Library, pp. 350-351. Cf. Pernice, op. cit., p. 23.
40 Although most of the compounds in -7r4/o,3 make adjectives of two terminations, Liddell-
Scott-Jones lists daaTOtLLoS as one of three terminations. But the evidence there cited is not conclusive.
Buck and Petersen (Reverse Index, p. 43), however, have shown that no fixed rules are possible:
" The fem. of -loS is sometimes the same as the masc., sometimes it is -ta, Ion. -mq. The familiar rule
according to which compounds do not change, but simple words form a distinct feminine, has
many exceptions."
41 Cf. cheirolabis, the part of a plow which one takes hold of (Pollux, I, 252).
42 In the accounts of Artemis Brauronia, I.G., I12, 1514 ff., rakos has a special meaning as
determined in A. Mommsen's article on this word in Philologus, LVIII, 1899, pp. 343-347. Kirchner
(ad I.G., II2, 1524, line 177) has summarized Mommsen's conclusions as follows: " baKog hic et