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The Meaning of bōmolokhos in Classical Attic
- Transactions of the American Philological Association
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 142, Number 2, Autumn 2012
- pp. 239-255
- 10.1353/apa.2012.0015
- Article
- Additional Information
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The bōmolokhos (buffoon, fool) has received misguided attention in comic scholarship due to a misunderstanding of Pherecrates fr. 150 KA. The second-century c.e. Harpocration (who cites the line) considers this passage to consist of a genuine etymology, and his view has gone roughly unchallenged ever since. But this is a mistake: the etymology which Pherecrates provides is not a legitimate one but rather a typical case of comic wordplay.