Σειρήν: Difference between revisions

|Definition=ῆνος, ἡ, <span class="title">Siren</span>; in pl., <b class="b3">Σειρῆνες, αἱ</b>, <span class="title">Sirens</span>, <span class="bibl">Od.12.39</span>, al., cf. Sch.ad loc.; Ep. dual gen. <b class="b3">Σειρήνοιιν</b> ib.<span class="bibl">52</span>, <span class="bibl">167</span>; <span class="sense"><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">A</span> πτεροφόροι νεανίδες… Σειρῆνες <span class="bibl">E.<span class="title">Hel.</span>169</span> (lyr.), cf. <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Fr.</span>911</span> (lyr.); Σειρὴν… τὰ σκέλη δὲ κοψίχου <span class="bibl">Anaxil.22.20</span>; cf. ἁρπυιόγουνος; σειρῆνα κόμπον… ὃς Ζεφύρου σιγάζει πνοάς <span class="bibl">Pi.<span class="title">Parth.</span>2.13</span>, cf. <span class="bibl">Hes.<span class="title">Fr.</span>69</span>; ἐπὶ τῶν κύκλων [τοῦ ἀτράκτου]… ἐφ' ἑκάστου βεβηκέναι Σειρῆνα… φωνὴν μίαν ἱεῖσαν <span class="bibl">Pl.<span class="title">R.</span>617b</span> (hence <b class="b3">σειρῆνες· τὰ ἄστρα</b>, <span class="title">Lex.Rhet.</span>ap.<span class="bibl">Eust.1709.54</span>, cf. Theo Sm. p.146H.); as a grave-ornament, στᾶλαι καὶ Σειρῆνες ἐμαί <span class="title">AP</span>7.710 (Erinna), cf. 491 (Mnasalc.). </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">II</span> metaph., [[Siren]], [[deceitful woman]], <span class="bibl">E.<span class="title">Andr.</span>936</span>: also, [[the Siren charm]] of eloquence, persuasion, and the like, <span class="bibl">Alcm.7</span>, <span class="bibl">Aeschin.3.228</span>, <span class="bibl">Alex.Aet.7</span> (pl.); <b class="b3">ποικίλη σ</b>., of philosophy, Phld.<span class="title">Rh.</span>2.145 S.; λόγων σ. καὶ χάρις <span class="bibl">Plu.<span class="title">Mar.</span>44</span>, cf. <span class="bibl">D.H. <span class="title">Comp.</span>26</span>, <span class="bibl">Jul.<span class="title">Or.</span>2.52d</span>; ὤλετο παρθενίη σ. ἐμή <span class="title">Supp.Epigr.</span>1.567.7 (Fayum), cf. <span class="title">IG</span>14.1942 (Rome); <b class="b3">σειρῆνα θεάτρων</b>, of Menander, ib.1183; <b class="b3">ἔνθεον σειρῆνα χεύῃ</b> ib.42(1).130.17 (Epid.). </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">III</span> ὁ, a kind of [[solitary bee]] or [[wasp]], <span class="bibl">Arist.<span class="title">HA</span>623b11</span>. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">IV</span> a small [[singingbird]], Hsch. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">2</span> prob. [[ostrich]], <span class="bibl">LXX <span class="title">Is.</span>13.21</span>,al., <span class="bibl">1</span><span class="title">Enoch</span> 19.2. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">V</span> as name of Zeus, dub. in <span class="bibl">Antim.94</span> (<b class="b3">σείρινα</b> acc. sg., codd.<span class="title">EM</span>). </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">VI</span> [[a light garment]], Harp. s.v. [[σείρινα]], Phot. (Correctly written with <b class="b3">-ει-</b>, as name of a ship, <span class="title">IG</span>22.1629.687.)</span>

|etymtx=ῆνος<br />Grammatical information: f.<br />Meaning: <b class="b2">Sirene(s)</b>, mythical destructive bird-like creatures (woman-birds), who, in the Od., attract those navigating by with their beautiful chant and kill them (Od.; Nilsson Gr. Rel. I2 228f.), also as des. of various seductive women and creatures (Alcm., E., Aeschin. a.o.); as des. of a wild kind of bees (Arist. a.o.; Gil Fernández Nombres de insectos 214f.).<br />Other forms: (Att. vase-inscr. <b class="b3">Σιρ-</b>; s. Kretschmer Glotta 10, 61 f. w. lit.), often pl. <b class="b3">-ῆνες</b>, gen. du. <b class="b3">-ήνοιιν</b> (Od.). Byforms <b class="b3">Σειρην-ίδες</b> (Dor. <b class="b3">Σηρην-</b>) pl. (Alcm. a.o.), <b class="b3">-άων</b> gen. pl. (Epich. 123, verse-end).<br />Dialectal forms: As 1. member in Myc. <b class="b2">se-re-mo-ka-ra-o-re</b>, <b class="b2">-a-pi</b> (Mühlestein Glotta 36,152ff.)??; wellfounded doubts by Risch Studi Micenei (Roma 1966) 1, 53 ff. Aura Jorro 255.<br />Derivatives: <b class="b3">Σειρήν(ε)ιος</b> [[sirene-like]] (LXX, Hld.).<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably]<br />Etymology: As the orig. (appellative) meaning is unknown, only hypotheses are possible. Purely formal (cf. Schwyzer 487) one should connect either <b class="b3">σειρά</b> ("the one who grasps, who snares") or <b class="b3">Σείριος</b> (as personification of the midday-blaze and the midday-magic), s. Solmsen Wortforsch. 126ff. (w. older lit.; to this Güntert Kalypso 174 f.), where the last idea is preferred. Acc. to others (Brandenstein Kratylos 6, 169 with Tomaschek, Lagercrantz Eranos 17, 101 ff. with diff. interpretations) Thrac.-Phryg. For Pre-Greek-Mediterr. origin e.g. Chantraine Form. 167 (with Cohen); further hypotheses in Brandenstein Festschr. Jul. Fr. Schütz (Graz-Köln 1954) 56 f. -- On the development of the word <b class="b2">sirène</b> in French Chantraine Institut de France (Lecture) 1954: 19, 5 f. -- Furnée 172 takes the wild bees for Pre-Greek.