Commentary on Ar. Av. 4: The metaphorical development of the verb προφορέομαι

Abstract

This article examines the meanings of the verb προφορέομαι and its connection with the metaphor of weaving craft in Aristophanes’ Birds (v. 4). We believe that the verb προφορέομαι has a craft meaning, which can possibly be related to its common meaning in Greek dictionaries (LSJ, The Cambridge Greek Lexicon): ‘to move back and forth’. We consider two traditions of understanding this verb that have been reflected in the grammatical tradition: one going back to Julius Pollux, the other to his rival grammarian Phrynichus Arabius. In this paper we show why we find Pollux’s meaning of the verb preferable. Nan Dunbar, in her commentary on Birds, holds that the technical meaning of προφορέομαι cannot denote the ‘move to and from’ generally accepted in modern dictionaries. In this paper we demonstrate, based on information known about the loom that existed in Greece during this era, that the craft meaning of προφορέομαι given by Pollux — ‘to set up the warp’ — resembles a back and forth movement, if we look at the process of tying the threads directly rather than from the side. Thus, in literary contexts (e. g. Aristophanes, Xenophon) προφορέομαι acquires the metaphorical meaning of side-to-side movement.