The lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria is an alphabetical glossary of rare words: poetic, dialectal and technical terms, proper names, proverbs and words of cult, each with a short explanation and often the author or region that used it. Hesychius' date is uncertain, probably the fifth or sixth century CE. The lexicon survives, abridged and with later additions, in a single fifteenth-century manuscript at Venice.
This work holds the second half of the lexicon, the nine letters from P to Ō, one part for each letter. Its entries range from Paamyles, an Egyptian god quoted from comedy, and the Athenian festival of opening the wine jars to the Parthian war drum, a Roman cavalry rank and the Hypsistarians, the sect that worshipped the Most High. Homeric and comic words are frequent, with proverbs such as "from the tripod", said of true speech, and Lysias, Aristotle and Galen are among the authors named. Glosses on biblical words also stand in the text, among them Paul's "O the depth of the riches" at the head of Ō and a closing note on Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades from Isaiah and Job.
Hesychius the Alexandrian Lexicon Pi–Omega: summary and contents (PDF)
Hesychius the Alexandrian Lexicon Pi–Omega: summary and contents (Markdown)
Contents
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Π Letter Pi
Paamyles, an Egyptian god, and Paapis, who sent cups to Athens, are among the first names in Pi, each quoted from comedy, with Apollo Pagasites. Pieria and the Pierian Muses of Macedon come among the pi- words, with the Pithoigia, the Athenian festival of opening the wine jars. At the end pōlos is used of courtesans and of the young, and the bird pōyx is cited from Aristotle on animals.
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Ρ Letter Rho
In Rho the particle rha comes first, then rhabdoi, among them the obeloi set against lines of Homer, and the oath of Rhadamanthys, sworn by a goose or a dog. Further in, rhigion, more dreadful, and rhiknos, shrivelled, belong to the cold and withered words. Painters, dyers and perfumers bought rhōpos, petty wares, and the closing glosses end on rhōps, a soft herb.
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Σ Letter Sigma
Sabazios, the Phrygian god taken for Dionysus or his son, and Hebrew words such as sabaōth come in Sigma's opening stretch, beside sagē, a full suit of armour, and sagēnē, a dragnet. Mid-letter come speira in its senses of coil, cord, garment and military unit. Rescue and the saviour round it off: Sōteira as Athena and, after Galen, an antidote, the third mixing bowl, called that of Zeus the Saviour, and Sōchos, father of the Curetes.
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Τ Letter Tau
The proverb "from the tripod", said of true speech after the Delphic or the Pythagorean tripod, follows the article ta at the start of Tau, with tabala, the Parthian war drum. Honour, assessment and penalty, the tim- family, take the centre, with timōria cited from Lysias. A run of phrases led by tōn completes it, among them "one of the three", the three penalties of Theramenes' decree.
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Υ Letter Upsilon
The Hyades lead off Upsilon: seven stars on the brow of the celestial bull, whose rising brings rain. Then come the Hyacinthia of Sparta and Hybla in Sicily, and many hyper- words for excess, pride and overflowing. Epithets of height in hypsi- precede its last gloss, on the Hypsistarians, the sect that worshipped the Most High.
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Φ Letter Phi
Beans, an islet and a sailors' sickness come early in Phi: phaba, Phabris off Attica, and phazalē, which struck those who sailed the Red Sea, beside the Homeric words in phae- for shining. Words for nonsense, phlēnaphos and phledōn, cluster with phlexentiēs, a Roman cavalry rank. Last come phōs, in its senses of light, fire and joy, and phōs, man.
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Χ Letter Chi
Chi opens with chazesthai, to give way, and the greeting chairein that opened letters and took leave, with words for hair and for hail. The chth- words carry the chthonic glosses: Zeus Chthonios as Hades and the bath offerings carried to tombs. Among mounds, places and going at the close, Chōnē is the old name of Italy, cited from Antiochus's history of Italy.
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Ψ Letter Psi
The short letter Psi begins with psagdas, a perfume, and psadda, cinnabar, and with the words for crumbling and rubbing built on psa- and psain-. Further on lie psiathia, the rush mats spread on the seats of the courts, and psithyrizein, whispering. Broken bread, psōmos and psōthia, comes toward its close, with psōsmata, a Boeotian word played on by Aristonymus.
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Ω Letter Omega
Paul's "O the depth of the riches" illustrates the exclamation ō at the head of Omega, the lexicon's last letter, beside the vocative ō and ōa, sheepskin. Ogygia, Calypso's island, Ōgēn as Ocean, and hōrakian, to faint, follow. A long note naming Orion, Arcturus and the Pleiades from Isaiah and Job, insisting that the Pleiades are seven stars, not six, brings it to an end.