Then Theon interrupting him said: Not at all, if we must trust those who
have delivered down to us the ancients way of living. For they say that
those being used to work, and very temperate in a morning, ate a bit of
bread dipped in wine, and nothing else, and that they called that meal
[Greek omitted] from the [Greek omitted] (WINE). Their supper they
called [Greek omitted], because returning from their business they took
it [Greek omitted] (LATE). Upon this we began to inquire whence those
two meals [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted] took their names. In Homer
[Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted] seem to be the same meal. For he
says that Eumaeus provided [Greek omitted] by the break of day; and it
is probable that [Greek omitted] was so called from [Greek omitted],
because provided in the morning; and [Greek omitted] was so named from
[Greek omitted], EASING FROM THEIR LABOR. For men used to take their
[Greek omitted] after they had finished their business, or whilst they
were about it. And this may be gathered from Homer, when he says,
Then when the woodman doth his supper dress.
("Iliad," xi. 86.)
But some perhaps will derive [Greek omitted] from [Greek omitted],
EASIEST PROVIDED, because that meal is usually made upon what is ready
and at hand; and [Greek omitted] from [Greek omitted], LABORED, because
of the pains used in dressing it.
My brother Lamprias, being of a scoffing, jeering nature, said: Since we
are in a trifling humor, I can show that the Latin names of these meals
are a thousand times more proper than the Greek; [Greek omitted] SUPPER,
they call coena ([Greek omitted]) from community; because they took
their [Greek omitted] by themselves, but their coena with their friends.
[Greek omitted] DINNER, they call prandium, from the time of the dry;
for [Greek omitted] signifies NOON-TIDE, and to rest after dinner is
expressed by [Greek omitted]; or else by prandium they denote a bit
taken in the morning, [Greek omitted], BEFORE THEY HAVE NEED OF ANY.
And not to mention stragula, from [Greek Omitted], vinum from [Greek
omitted], oleum from [Greek omitted], mel from [Greek omitted], gustare
from [Greek omitted], propinare from [Greek omitted], and a great many
more words which they have plainly borrowed from the Greeks,--who can
deny but that they have taken their comessatio, BANQUETING, from our
[Greek omitted] and miscere, TO MINGLE, from the Greeks too? Thus in
Homer,
She in a bowl herself mixt ([Greek omitted]) generous wine.
("Odyssey," x. 356.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3: Essays and Miscellanies — John Shaqi
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