117
In Greek, however, as noted earlier, all the words for cardinal directions (not
forgetting the ninth term, Zephyros, the west wind)
35
have original, literal meanings
and are used in both their primary and their secondary senses.
36
Table 2 illustrates
Herodotos’ use of the terms in question (some in their Ionic forms).
37
In this case, therefore, the application of the ‘naming and necessity’ principle
would involve a stronger claim: that when one of these terms is used in a directional
sense—for example, when anatolē, ‘rising’, is used to mean ‘the east’—it is an
example of metonymy (as when we use ‘the Crown’ to mean ‘the monarch’) and
carries no connotations of its original meaning. Whether a word is being used in its
primary or its secondary sense can be determined on the basis of the context in
which it used.
5.2 ‘Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest’: Metonymy with Primary
Meaning Suppressed
Among the terms listed selectively in the Appendices, the adjectives—especially in
their comparative and superlative forms—are perhaps the most purely metonymic
instances of these terms in use. We will never suppose that an author means to
describe a people or place as ‘more bearlike’ than another, more ‘dawnlike’, or ‘the
one most characteristic of rising’. In his astrological work Tetrabiblos (3. 6. 3),
Ptolemy contrasts people who are ἀπηλιωτικώτεροι (apēliōtikōteroi), literally
‘more characteristic of the Apeliotes’ (east wind), with those who are λιβικώτεροι
(libikōteroi), literally ‘more characteristic of the Lips’ (south-west wind). It would
be perverse not to read these words as meaning ‘located further east’ and ‘located
further south-west’ and translate accordingly.
Geographical writers did not write in a separate domain from historians (and
were often the same men). Numerous examples can be found in Herodotos (above)
and the other major historians of cardinal terms being used purely directionally,
without any hint of their original denotations being evident. We must not forget that
Greek writers wishing to indicate compass directions had no other terms that they
could use, so it must have been possible for them to use these words in a purely
directional sense. In many passages the cardinal direction is therefore the only reasonable meaning to impute to such terms. Their use, however, is uneven: there are
remarkably few such directional terms in, for example, Thucydides’ Histories
38
and
35 Not a name with a meaning; possibly derived from the noun ζόφος, zophos, ‘gloom’, LSJ; cf.
Nielsen 1945, 9.
36 The same is true in Modern Greek, where derivatives from the Classical words operate similarly:
for example, δύση (dýsi) usually means ‘west’ but also ‘setting’ or ‘sinking’, while ανατολή (anatolí) means ‘east’ and ‘rise’.
37 Data from Logeion, Perseus, and TLG (1 May 2020).
38 Thucydides: no directional uses of arktos, heōs, anatolē, zephyros, or dysis (26 of heōs and 1 of
dysis in temporal senses); (N) 5 directional expressions using boreas; (S) 3 cases of pros noton; 1
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers
In Greek, however, as noted earlier, all the words for cardinal directions (not
forgetting the ninth term, Zephyros, the west wind)
35
have original, literal meanings
and are used in both their primary and their secondary senses.
36
Table 2 illustrates
Herodotos’ use of the terms in question (some in their Ionic forms).
37
In this case, therefore, the application of the ‘naming and necessity’ principle
would involve a stronger claim: that when one of these terms is used in a directional
sense—for example, when anatolē, ‘rising’, is used to mean ‘the east’—it is an
example of metonymy (as when we use ‘the Crown’ to mean ‘the monarch’) and
carries no connotations of its original meaning. Whether a word is being used in its
primary or its secondary sense can be determined on the basis of the context in
which it used.
5.2 ‘Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest’: Metonymy with Primary
Meaning Suppressed
Among the terms listed selectively in the Appendices, the adjectives—especially in
their comparative and superlative forms—are perhaps the most purely metonymic
instances of these terms in use. We will never suppose that an author means to
describe a people or place as ‘more bearlike’ than another, more ‘dawnlike’, or ‘the
one most characteristic of rising’. In his astrological work Tetrabiblos (3. 6. 3),
Ptolemy contrasts people who are ἀπηλιωτικώτεροι (apēliōtikōteroi), literally
‘more characteristic of the Apeliotes’ (east wind), with those who are λιβικώτεροι
(libikōteroi), literally ‘more characteristic of the Lips’ (south-west wind). It would
be perverse not to read these words as meaning ‘located further east’ and ‘located
further south-west’ and translate accordingly.
Geographical writers did not write in a separate domain from historians (and
were often the same men). Numerous examples can be found in Herodotos (above)
and the other major historians of cardinal terms being used purely directionally,
without any hint of their original denotations being evident. We must not forget that
Greek writers wishing to indicate compass directions had no other terms that they
could use, so it must have been possible for them to use these words in a purely
directional sense. In many passages the cardinal direction is therefore the only reasonable meaning to impute to such terms. Their use, however, is uneven: there are
remarkably few such directional terms in, for example, Thucydides’ Histories
38
and
35 Not a name with a meaning; possibly derived from the noun ζόφος, zophos, ‘gloom’, LSJ; cf.
Nielsen 1945, 9.
36 The same is true in Modern Greek, where derivatives from the Classical words operate similarly:
for example, δύση (dýsi) usually means ‘west’ but also ‘setting’ or ‘sinking’, while ανατολή (anatolí) means ‘east’ and ‘rise’.
37 Data from Logeion, Perseus, and TLG (1 May 2020).
38 Thucydides: no directional uses of arktos, heōs, anatolē, zephyros, or dysis (26 of heōs and 1 of
dysis in temporal senses); (N) 5 directional expressions using boreas; (S) 3 cases of pros noton; 1
Sun, Sea, and Sky: On Translating Directions (and Other Terms) in the Greek Geographers