Etymological Play on Alphius—Olphius: (Martial 9.95)

B. Pastor de Arozena: Alphius—Olphius81 Etymological Play on Alphius—Olphius: (Martial 9.95)* Barbara Pastor de Arozena Alphius ante fuit, coepit nunc Olphius esse, uxorem postquam duxit Athenagoras. lAlpiciusCA A(fius Heraeus: fuit coepit AA CA: fuicoepiBA 0(ficiusCA: Offius Heneas colpniusP, coalfiusQ, OtfrisR As indicated by die above apparatus criticus, many critics have doubted die authenticity ofAlphius and Olphius. In hoc epigrammate exhibendo nil uariant libri aut membranae: Alphicus [sic], medicus curans uitiliginem, quae Graecis ??f??* dicitur,"1 while L. Friedländer categorically asserts, "Ein völlig unverständliches Wortspiel."2 W.M. Lindsay shows his collation of the Berlin and Edinburg MSS: XCV locus De Nomine Athenagore (ex -gereT) L: De Atenagora E I Alfius L: Alpicius E olfius L: olficius E.3 And W.C.A. Ker declares widi terseness, "The point of titis epigram is unknown."4 Those who have attempted to defend Alfius and Olfius have simply misunderstood this epigram.5 And those who have defended Alphius and Olphius * I would like to express my thanks to DJl. Shackleton Bailey, H. Dettiner and E.B. Holtsmark for theirhelpful suggestions. 1 N.E. Lemaire, M. V. Martialis Epigrammata (Paris 1825) 46Z 2 M. Valerii epigrammaton libri mit erklärendenAnmerkungen von L. Friedländer (Leipzig 1886) ? 101. 3 M. Val. Martialis Epigrammata (Oxford 1903) ad loc. Cf. also his book Ancient Editions of Martial (Oxford 1903) AppendixA, 99. 4 Martial Epigrams (London 1920; Cambridge, Mass. 1978s) 142. See now D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Martialis Epigrammata (Stuttgart 1990) ad loc. 5 Lemaire (above, note 1) interprets Olficus as a name derived from olfacire. HJ. Izaac, Martial. Epigrammes (Paris 1933) ? 69 adopted Alfius, Olfius. W.M. Lindsay ("Notes on the text of 82Syllecta Classica 3 (1991) have not squarely faced either die problem of its lexical peculiarity or die problem of relating it to its context, so they interpret its brevity as a meaningless pun. This epigram indeed is a pun, but certainly not meaningless. The Thesaurus Linguae Latinae distinguishes between: a)Alphius: 'nom. uir graecum', referred to Mart. 9.95 along with the commentary, 'quiddicat nescio', and b)alphas, ??f??, morbus.6 The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, however, does not include this word as a nom. uir. graecum, but only ??f?? as morbus. The Etymologicum Magnum defines ????S: ?a???µa??; s?µa??e? t?? ???????.7 O. Crusius interprets the antithesis Alphius—Olphius as a play upon die Greek words "??f??;—"??f???, which leads him to interpret die epigram, "Vor der Hochzeit spielt Athenagoras die erste Violine, nach seiner Heirat die letzte,"8 which is untenable since, if taken in this way, ??f??? cannot be explained etymologically, and certainly it is in die hidden words Alphius and Olphius where die deeper meaning lurks. J. Mussehl contends, "Der Scherz ist aus griechischer Anschauung geboren," which is absolutely right, but not widi regards to a??? and t????. He asserts diat titis epigram deals widi pederasty, "Das mit der Heirat des e?ast?; and ???µe??; vom A zum O wird, ist ein t?p?; der päderastischen Literatur."9 K. Berwick, while reminding die reader of the commentary by Heraeus: 'Omnia obscura,' interprets Alfius as meaning pedico (cf. ??f?st?;), and Olfium as derived ab olfaciendo = cunniiingum interpr. Domitius, v. Schrevel. He unhesitatingly contends, "Mir scheint im wesentlichen alles klar zu sein."10 The problem, nevertheless, is diat he does not explain die meaning either ofAlfius [sic] or of Olfius. There is in fact no other place in his Epigrams where Martial uses die words Alphius and Olphius so we might be able to attempt to make a comparison. We can, Martial," CR 17 [1903] 49), although he defends Alphius, Olphius, does not understand the meaning of those words, "Was O"lpha' a current name for the letter we call 'Omega', a name coined after 'alpha? And is the meaning 'He (or T) was once the chief friend of Athenagoras, but now of no account? Cf. also W. Gilbert, M. V. Martialis Epigrammaton libri (Leipzig 1890) 223; and W. Heraeus, M. ValerH Martialis Epigrammaton Libri (Leipzig 1976) 223. See the translation by J.A. Pott and F.A. Wright, Martial the twelve books ofEpigrams (London and New York 1925) 292: When Algernon...