107
For example, a place where a ship can pause its journey may be designated by a
range of different terms, of which the most common in geographical writings are (1)
λιμήν (limēn), (2) ὅρμος (hormos), (3) σάλος (salos), and (4) ὕφορμος (hyphormos). The last two will be less familiar to readers of ancient Greek than the first two,
occurring as they do almost exclusively in texts concerned with navigation or maritime geography.
1. Limēn (plural limenes) is conventionally rendered ‘harbour’, as it is in the formerly standard Greek lexicon ‘LSJ’ (Liddell–Scott–Jones)
5
and in the new Brill
Dictionary edited by Montanari
6
; appropriately so, for in the geographical texts
it seems to cover enclosed embayments of significant size (whether natural or
artificial) with a settlement adjacent or nearby.
2. Hormos (pl. hormoi), derived from the verb εἴρω (eirō), ‘fasten’, connotes safety,
so ‘anchorage’ is one common rendering. Yet LSJ gives a wider definition:
‘roadstead, anchorage, esp. the inner part of a harbour or basin, where ships lie’.
First, it must be observed that hormos is not used specifically of the ‘inner parts’
of harbours, at least in geographical writings, though it is more flexible than
limēn.
7
Next, ‘roadstead’ is a surprising translation: it is defined in the latest edition of
the Concise Oxford Dictionary
8
as equivalent to ‘road’, sense 3: ‘a partly sheltered stretch of water near the shore in which ships can ride at anchor’. This will
be familiar to those who visit the Roseland peninsula in southern Cornwall (a
favourite destination of our honorand’s family and mine), separated from the
ancient Royal Navy port of Falmouth by a complex of deep-water sea inlets
known as the Carrick Roads. It does not, however, seem to overlap with hormos,
which from its use in geographical texts appears to refer not to offshore water but
to a coastal feature offering accommodation for vessels, often without an adjacent settlement or any manmade facilities.
Perhaps surprisingly, LSJ does not include ‘mooring’ among the possible meanings of hormos, despite its derivation from eirō; but ‘mooring’ suggests attaching a vessel to a permanent manmade structure (such as a jetty) or to a buoy
(something the ancients did not use, as far as I am aware),
9
while as a noun it
further connotes the space a single vessel may occupy. In both respects hormos
clearly has a wider field of meaning than ‘mooring’. Nor is ‘mooring’ used as
part of English place-names, whereas ‘anchorage’ is: not only, for example, the
5 Liddell and Scott 1940.
6 Montanari 2015.
7 For hormos Brill gives ‘harbor, cove, port, anchorage basin, anchorage, moorage’, which indicates the spread of meaning.
8 Stevenson and Waite 2011.
9 Stevenson and Waite 2011, s.v. moor
2 : ‘make fast (a boat) by attaching by cable or rope to the
shore or to an anchor’. Wikipedia s.v. Mooring (9/5/20): A mooring is any permanent structure to
which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and
mooring buoys.’
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers
For example, a place where a ship can pause its journey may be designated by a
range of different terms, of which the most common in geographical writings are (1)
λιμήν (limēn), (2) ὅρμος (hormos), (3) σάλος (salos), and (4) ὕφορμος (hyphormos). The last two will be less familiar to readers of ancient Greek than the first two,
occurring as they do almost exclusively in texts concerned with navigation or maritime geography.
1. Limēn (plural limenes) is conventionally rendered ‘harbour’, as it is in the formerly standard Greek lexicon ‘LSJ’ (Liddell–Scott–Jones)
5
and in the new Brill
Dictionary edited by Montanari
6
; appropriately so, for in the geographical texts
it seems to cover enclosed embayments of significant size (whether natural or
artificial) with a settlement adjacent or nearby.
2. Hormos (pl. hormoi), derived from the verb εἴρω (eirō), ‘fasten’, connotes safety,
so ‘anchorage’ is one common rendering. Yet LSJ gives a wider definition:
‘roadstead, anchorage, esp. the inner part of a harbour or basin, where ships lie’.
First, it must be observed that hormos is not used specifically of the ‘inner parts’
of harbours, at least in geographical writings, though it is more flexible than
limēn.
7
Next, ‘roadstead’ is a surprising translation: it is defined in the latest edition of
the Concise Oxford Dictionary
8
as equivalent to ‘road’, sense 3: ‘a partly sheltered stretch of water near the shore in which ships can ride at anchor’. This will
be familiar to those who visit the Roseland peninsula in southern Cornwall (a
favourite destination of our honorand’s family and mine), separated from the
ancient Royal Navy port of Falmouth by a complex of deep-water sea inlets
known as the Carrick Roads. It does not, however, seem to overlap with hormos,
which from its use in geographical texts appears to refer not to offshore water but
to a coastal feature offering accommodation for vessels, often without an adjacent settlement or any manmade facilities.
Perhaps surprisingly, LSJ does not include ‘mooring’ among the possible meanings of hormos, despite its derivation from eirō; but ‘mooring’ suggests attaching a vessel to a permanent manmade structure (such as a jetty) or to a buoy
(something the ancients did not use, as far as I am aware),
9
while as a noun it
further connotes the space a single vessel may occupy. In both respects hormos
clearly has a wider field of meaning than ‘mooring’. Nor is ‘mooring’ used as
part of English place-names, whereas ‘anchorage’ is: not only, for example, the
5 Liddell and Scott 1940.
6 Montanari 2015.
7 For hormos Brill gives ‘harbor, cove, port, anchorage basin, anchorage, moorage’, which indicates the spread of meaning.
8 Stevenson and Waite 2011.
9 Stevenson and Waite 2011, s.v. moor
2 : ‘make fast (a boat) by attaching by cable or rope to the
shore or to an anchor’. Wikipedia s.v. Mooring (9/5/20): A mooring is any permanent structure to
which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and
mooring buoys.’
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers