Suda

The exact spelling of the title is disputed.It is worth noticing that Adler's edition maintains the spelling Suida/{{lang|grc|Σουΐδα}} (as Gaisford's and Bekker's editions did), in continuity with the manuscripts, but modern scholarship prefers Suda/Σούδα. The transmitted title (paradosis) is "Suida", which is also attested in Eustathius' commentary on Homer's epic poems; several conjectures has been made, both defending it and trying to correct it in "Suda".{{Cite journal |last=Nuovo |first=Claudia |date=2022 |title=Un'ultima teichotaphromachia per il lessico Suda |journal=Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik |volume=72 |pages=421–426}}

• Paul Maas advocated for the {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}} spelling, connecting it to the Latin verb {{wikt-lang|la|sūdā}}, the second-person singular imperative of {{wikt-lang|la|sudo|sūdāre}}, "to sweat".{{Cite journal |last=Maas |first=Paul |date=1932 |title=Der Titel des "Suidas" |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1932.32.1.1 |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1932.32.1.1 |s2cid=191333687 |via=De Gruyter|url-access=subscription }}
• Franz Dölger also defended {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}}, tracing its origins back to Byzantine military lexicon ({{wikt-lang|grc|σοῦδα}}, "ditch, trench", then "fortress").{{Cite book |last=Dölger |first=Franz |title=Der Titel der sogenannten Suidaslexicons |publisher=Bayerische Akademie des Wissenschaften |year=1936 |series=Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Abteilung. Jahrgang 1936. Heft 6 |location=München}}{{Cite journal |last=Dölger |first=Franz |date=1938 |title=Zur σοῦδα – Frage |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=36–57 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1938.38.1.36 |s2cid=191479647}}
• Henri Grégoire, starting from a critique to Dölger's interpretation, defended a proposal advanced by one of his pupils, and explained the word {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}} as the acrostic of {{lang|grc|Συναγογὴ ὀνομάτων ὑπὸ διαφόρων ἀνδρῶν σοφῶν}}, "Collection of names (words) by different learned men", or alternatively {{lang|grc|Συναγογὴ ὀνομαστικῆς ὕλης δι’ ἀλφαβήτου}}, "Collection of lexicographical material in alphabetical order".{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1937 |title=Suidas et son mystère |journal=Les études classiques |volume=6 |pages=346–355}}{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1937 |title=Étymologies byzantino-latines |journal=Byzantion |volume=12 |pages=293–300; 658–666}}{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1938 |title=La teichotaphromachia |journal=Byzantion |volume=13 |pages=389–391}}{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1944–1945 |title=La fin d'une controverse: koptō taphron, taphrokopō |journal=Byzantion |volume=17 |pages=330–331}} This suggestion was also supported by French Hellenist and Byzantinist Alphonse Dain.{{Cite journal |last=Dain |first=Alphonse |date=1937 |title=Suda dans les traités militaires |journal=Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves |volume=5 |pages=233–241}}
• Silvio Giuseppe Mercati wrote on the matter twice: firstly in an article appeared in the academic journal Byzantion,{{Cite journal |last=Mercati |first=Silvio Giuseppe |date=1957 |title=Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia |journal=Byzantion |volume=25/26/27 |issue=1 |pages=173–93}} and later in an expanded version of the same.{{Cite journal |last=Mercati |first=Silvio Giuseppe |date=1960 |title=Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia |journal=Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memorie, Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche |volume=8 |issue=10 |pages=3–50}} He suggested a link with the Neo-Latin substantive {{wikt-lang|la|guida}} ("guide"), transliterated in Greek as {{lang|grc|γουίδα}} and later miswritten as {{lang|grc|σουίδα}}. This interpretation was strongly criticized by Dölger, who also refused to publish Mercati's first article in the Byzantinische Zeitschrift; on the other hand, Giuseppe Schirò supported it.{{Cite journal |last=Schirò |first=Giuseppe |date=1958 |title=Da Suida-Suda a Guida |journal=Archivio Storico per la Calabria e la Lucania |volume=27 |pages=171–176}}{{Cite journal |last=Schirò |first=Giuseppe |date=1962 |title=Si torna a Suida (= Guida) |journal=Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale |volume=4 |pages=240–241}}
• Bertrand Hemmerdinger interpreted Σουΐδας as a Doric genitive.{{Cite journal |last=Hemmerdinger |first=Bertrand |date=1998 |title=Suidas, et non la Souda |journal=Bollettino dei Classici |series=3rd Series |volume=19 |pages=31–32}}

Other suggestions include Jan Sajdak's theory that {{lang|grc|σοῦδα / σουίδα}} may derive from Sanskrit {{wikt-lang|sa|सुविद्या}} suvidyā (which he translated into Latin: perfecta cumulataque scientia, "collected and systemized knowledge");{{Cite book |last=Sajdak |first=Jan |title=Wielka literatura powszechna Trzaski, Everta i Michalskiego |date=1933 |editor-last=Lam |editor-first=S. |volume=4. Literatury słowiańskie, literatura bizantyjska i nowogrecka |location=Warszawa |pages=723 |chapter=Literatura Bizantyńska |editor-last2=Brückner |editor-first2=A.}}{{Cite journal |last=Sajdak |first=Jan |date=1934 |title=Liber Suda |journal=Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Prace Komisji Filologicznej |volume=7 |pages=249–272}} Giuseppe Scarpat's link to an unidentified Judas, the supposed author of the Lexicon;{{Cite journal |last=Scarpat |first=Giuseppe |date=1960–1961 |title=Una nuova ipotesi sull'autore del lessico detto di Suida |journal=Atti del Sodalizio Glottologico Milanese |volume=14 |pages=3–11}} and Hans Gerstinger's explanation which points at Russian {{wikt-lang|ru|суда́}} sudá "here", as the answer to the question "{{lang|grc|τί ποῦ κεῖται;}}" "what and where is it?".{{Cite journal |last=Gerstringer |first=Hans |date=1961 |title=Review of: S. G. Mercati, Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia, Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memorie, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche VIII, 10 (1960) 3–50 |journal=Gnomon |volume=50 |pages=783–785}} The most recent explanation{{which|date=September 2024}} as of 2024 has been advanced by Claudia Nuovo, who defended Σοῦδα on palaeographical, philological and historical grounds{{how|date=September 2024}}.

{{Cquote|quote= {{lang|la|pecus est Suidas, sed pecus aurei velleris}}

[Suidas is cattle, but cattle with a golden fleece]|author=Lipsius}}

The Suda is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense. It explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, using such earlier authorities as Harpocration and Helladios.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}} It is a rich source of ancient and Byzantine history and life, although not every article is of equal quality, and it is an "uncritical" compilation.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}

Much of the work is probably interpolated,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} and passages that refer to Michael Psellos (c. 1017–1078) are deemed interpolations which were added in later copies.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}

This lexicon contains numerous biographical notices on political, ecclesiastical, and literary figures of the Byzantine Empire to the tenth century, those biographical entries being condensations from the works of Hesychius of Miletus, as the author himself avers. Other sources were the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (reigned 912–959) for the figures in ancient history, excerpts of John of Antioch (seventh century) for Roman history, the chronicle of Hamartolus (Georgios Monachos, 9th century) for the Byzantine age{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}}{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{Refn|Karl Krumbacher concluded the two main biographical sources were "Constantine VII for ancient history, Hamartolus (Georgios Monarchos) for the Byzantine age".Krumbacher, Karl (1897), Byzantinische Literatur, p. 566, cited by {{harvp|Herbermann|1913}}}}, the biographies of Diogenes Laërtius, and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus. Other principal sources include a lexicon by "Eudemus," perhaps derived from the work On Rhetorical Language by Eudemus of Argos.Krumbacher, Karl, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hRtZVWDfBw8C&pg=PA268 pp. 268f.]

The lexicon copiously draws from scholia to the classics (Homer, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Sophocles, etc.), and for later writers, Polybius, Josephus, the Chronicon Paschale, George Syncellus, George Hamartolus, and so on.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}} The Suda quotes or paraphrases these sources at length. Since many of the originals are lost, the Suda serves as an invaluable repository of literary history, and this preservation of the "literary history" is more vital than the lexicographical compilation itself, by some estimation.{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}}

File:Suda, Vaticanus graecus 1296.jpg

The lexicon is arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and place in the Greek alphabet{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} (including at each case the homophonous digraphs, e.g. {{lang|grc-x-medieval|αι, ει, οι}}, that had been previously, earlier in the history of Greek, distinct diphthongs or vowels) according to a system (formerly common in many languages) called antistoichia ({{lang|grc-x-medieval|ἀντιστοιχία}}); namely the letters follow phonetically in order of sound according the pronunciation of the tenth century, which was similar to that of Modern Greek. The order is:

{{blockquote|{{lang|grc-x-medieval|α, β, γ, δ, αι, ε, ζ, ει, η, ι, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, ο, ω, π, ρ, σ, τ, οι, υ, φ, χ, ψ}}Gaisford, Thomas, ed., (1853) [https://books.google.com/books?id=7OFCgP0UCy4C&pg=PA30 Suidae lexicon: Graecè et Latinè], Volume 1, Part 1, page XXXIX (in Greek and Latin)}}

In addition, double letters are treated as single for the purposes of collation (as gemination had ceased to be distinctive). The system is not difficult to learn and remember, but some editors—for example, Immanuel Bekker – rearranged the Suda alphabetically.

Little is known about the compiler of the Suda. He probably lived in the second half of the 10th century, because the death of emperor John I Tzimiskes and his succession by Basil II and Constantine VIII are mentioned in the entry under "Adam" which is appended with a brief chronology of the world.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} At any rate, the work must have appeared by the 12th century, since it is frequently quoted from and alluded to by Eustathius who lived from about 1115 to about 1195–1196.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} It has also been stated that the work was a collective work, thus not having had a single author, and that the name which it is known under does not refer to a specific person.{{Sfn|Mazzucchi|2020}}

The work deals with biblical as well as pagan subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} In any case, it lacks definite guidelines besides some minor interest in religious matters.{{Sfn|Mazzucchi|2020}}

The standard printed edition was compiled by Danish classical scholar Ada Adler in the first half of the twentieth century. A modern collaborative English translation, the Suda On Line, was completed on 21 July 2014.{{cite web|title=The History of the Suda On Line|url=http://www.stoa.org/sol/history.shtml|website=Stoa |access-date=10 July 2015|quote="A translation of the last of the Suda's 31000+ entries was submitted to the database on July 21, 2014 and vetted the next day."}} Also {{cite journal |last1=Mahoney |first1=Anne |title=Tachypaedia Byzantina: The Suda On Line as Collaborative Encyclopedia |journal=Digital Humanities Quarterly |date=2009 |volume=3 |issue=1 |url=http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/003/1/000025/000025.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209045035/http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/003/1/000025/000025.html |archive-date= Dec 9, 2023 }}

The Suda has a near-contemporaneous Islamic parallel, the Kitab al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim. Compare also the Latin Speculum Maius, authored in the 13th century by Vincent of Beauvais.

• {{cite book|editor-last=Küster|editor-first=Ludolf|editor-link=Ludolph Küster|title=Suidae Lexicon, Graece & Latine |place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1705}}: [https://archive.org/details/suidaelexicongr01suid/ vol. 1], [https://archive.org/details/suidaelexicongr02suid vol. 2], [https://archive.org/details/suidaelexicongr03suid vol. 3].
• {{cite book|editor-last=Gaisford |editor-first=Thomas |editor-link=Thomas Gaisford |title=Suidae Lexicon|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=1834}}: [https://books.google.com/books?id=fupCAAAAcAAJ vol. 1 (A–Θ)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=XupCAAAAcAAJ vol. 2 (Κ–Ψ)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=BedCAAAAcAAJ vol. 3 (Indices)].
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Bekker |editor-first1=Immanuel |editor-link=August Immanuel Bekker |title=Suidae Lexicon |date=1854 |publisher=G. Reimer |location=Berlin |url=https://archive.org/details/suidaelexicon01bekkgoog/}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Adler|editor-first=Ada |editor-link=Ada Adler |title=Suidae Lexicon |date=1928–38 |publisher=B. G. Teubner |location=Leipzig}} Reprinted 1967–71, Stuttgart.

• {{lang|la|Naturalis Historia}} by Pliny the Elder
• Etymologicum Magnum
• Etymologicum Genuinum
• Hesychius of Alexandria

;Citations

{{Reflist|2}}

;Bibliography

{{Refbegin}}

• {{EB1911|wstitle=Sūïdas|noprescript=1}}
• Dickey, Eleanor. Ancient Greek Scholarship: a guide to finding, reading, and understanding scholia, commentaries, lexica, and grammatical treatises, from their beginnings to the Byzantine period. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9780195312935}}.
• {{Catholic|wstitle=Suidas|prescript=}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://lexicon.katabiblon.com/suda/index.php? Index of the Suda on line]
• [https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-html/ Suda On Line]. An on-line edition of the Greek (the Ada Adler edition) with full English translations and commentary.
• [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/work?id=olbp69034 Suda lexicon] at the Online Books Page
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20231029152638/http://www.physics.ntua.gr/mourmouras/ilias_odysseia/Lexiko/souida.html Suda lexicon in Greek]

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Category:10th-century encyclopedias

Category:10th century in the Byzantine Empire

Category:Byzantine Greek encyclopedias

Category:Collaborative non-fiction books