The sea, and a name of a city[1] and 'Abderite' [is] the citizen [of it].[2]
Also Phalera and
Kythera [sc. are spelled with
eta]; but Gadeira, Stageira, Topeira, and Dobeira [sc. are spelled with
epsiloniota].[3]
[1] Actually, as
Stephanus of
Byzantium and others noted, there were two cities called
Abdera: one, the present-day Avdira, in northern Greece (Barrington
Atlas map 51 grid D3; RE I.22-23; OCD(3) s.v.); the other, the present-day Adra, in southern
Spain (Barrington
Atlas map 27 grid B5). But the idea of
Abdera as 'the sea' is unintelligible.
[2] Similarly glossed in the
Etymologicum Magnum and the
Lexicon Ambrosianum. An "Abderite" could also signify someone generically stupid: see LSJ s.v.
Ἀβδηρίτης (web address 1 below).
[3] These six city-names (whether spelled with an eta, like
Abdera, or epsilon-iota; there would have been little difference in pronounciation by the time of the Suda) generate an ethnikon in the same way. See also
sigma 977. This part of the entry does not appear in manuscripts A (= Parisinus 2625), G (= Parisinus 2623), and T (= Vaticanus 881).
No. of records found: 1
Page 1