Dactyloepitrite

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term dactyloepitrites refers to a type of ancient verse in song poetry, in which dactylic and epitritic feet alternate.

They were originally used as singing verses in Greek choral poetry and are first documented in Stesichoros . Most of the dactyl epitritical songs have been handed down by Simonides von Keos , Bakchylides and Pindar . Dactyloepitrites also appear in tragedy, but very rarely. Their accumulation in the Medea des Euripides is an exception.

Classification and structure

In contrast to the spoken verses, whose meters are used regularly and which are therefore always of the same length, dactyloepitritic verses are not structured according to meters ( κατὰ μέτρον ) and can be of any length. In contrast to the Aeolian meter , which is also not based on meters, dactyloepitritic verses consist of a sequence of dactylic and epitritic ("subsequent") terms (so-called kola ). These links are usually connected by an elementum anceps (a long or short connective syllable); one speaks of a synartetic structure. In the case of consecutive kola without an internal link , one speaks of asynartetic construction.

The name Daktyloepitriten comes from the philologist Rudolf Westphal , a pupil of Gottfried Hermann , from the work Greek Metrics with special regard to the stanzas and the other melischen Metra (Leipzig 1889). It was also adopted in the English-speaking world ( dactylo-epitritic ). A systematic explanation of the meter was only achieved by Paul Maas , who explained the dactyloepitrites in the following way: The dactylic basic element is a hemiepes , i.e. a dactylic hexameter up to the penthemimers called caesura. This basic element is followed by the epitritic members, which consist of cretians . Optionally, there can also be short dactylic elements. The synartetic elements stand as individual elementa longa , brevia or ancipitia . The shortened notation after Maas, which is widely used today and included in metric compendia, looks like this:

Abbreviation metric Correspondence in meters
D. —◡◡ — ◡◡— Hemiepes
d 1 —◡◡— Choriambus
d 2 ◡◡— Anapaest
e —◡— Creticus
E. —◡— - —◡— e × e

In the dactyloepitritic poems that have been handed down, certain patterns emerge with regard to the arrangement of the elements. These have been compiled by Herwig Maehler in his edition of Pindar (1989). Since the interpretation of many passages is difficult or even impossible to solve , Maehler and Bruno Snell have added the metrical transcriptions of the songs of Pindars and Bakchylides in their edition in Maas' short form.

Text example

Audio version of the text example with Erasmic pronunciation.

The following passage comes from the song of victory by Bacchylides (Bacch. 5,56-67). The dactylic limbs are colored red , the epitritic limbs green .

Greek

Δῦ ναι ποτ 'ἐρειψιπύλαν ἄνδρ' ἀνίκατον λέγου σιν

ἔρ νος Διὸς ἀργικεραύν ου δώματα Φερσεφόνας ταν ισφύρου ,
καρχαρόδοντα κύν 'ἄξ οντ' ἐς φάος ἐξ Ἀΐδα,
υἱὸν ἀπλάτοι 'Ἐχίδ νας · ἔνθα δυστάνων βροτῶν
ψυ χὰς ἐδάη παρὰ Κω κυ τοῦ ῥεέθ ροις, οἷά τε φύλλ' ἄνεμος

Ἴ δας ἀνὰ μηλοβότους πρῶνας ἀργηστὰς δονεῖ.
transcription

dŷnai pot 'ereipsipýlan Andr' aníkaton légousin
Erno Dios argikeraúnou domata Phersephónas tanisphýrou,
karcharódonta kyn 'áxont' it PHAOS ex Aeida,
yiòn haplátoi 'echidnas · entha dystánon brotôn
Psychas edáe parà Kokytoû rheétrois, HOIA te phyll' Anemos
IDAS Ana melobótous Pronas argestàs Donei .

translation

The invincible man, the one who was
tearing down the gates, is said to have come down to the flat of the slender Persephone , the son of the brightly flashing Zeus, to
lead the dog with terrible teeth out of Hades into the light,
the son of the gruesome Echidna: then he saw of the wretched mortal
souls by the rivers the cocytus, just as the wind
shakes the leaves on the sheep-grazing, bright white slopes of Ida.

Metric analysis

(in brackets the short notation after Maas)

——◡◡ — ◡◡ —— ◡ ——— ◡—— (–DE–)
——◡◡ — ◡◡ ——— ◡◡ — ◡◡ ——— ◡— (–D – D – e)
- ◡◡ — ◡◡ ——— ◡◡ — ◡◡— (D – D)
—◡ ——— ◡ ——— ◡ ——— ◡— (E – E)
——◡◡ — ◡◡ ——— ◡ ——— ◡◡ — ◡◡— (–D – e – D)
——◡◡ — ◡◡ —— ◡ ——— ◡— (–DE)

literature