Clever[ness?] in utterance. The one with a good tongue and the one with a pleasant voice is so termed.
The irregular superlative of the adjective
λάλος , “talkative” (see the comparative at
lambda 79), here in either masculine accusative singular or neuter nominative/accusative singular. But which?. Apparently neuter, because the neuter article
τό before the adjective “clever” has the effect of making the noun abstract (but note that in one lexicon -- Anecdota Graeca I (Bachmann) 287.33 -- it is the masculine
τόν ).
This seems to be a bit of scholarly flotsam showing up in various lexica, e.g.
Hesychius Lambda239.1 and
Photius Lambda205,5, but with the sense of “eloquent” in the Suda, not in the classical meaning, which is illustrated in precisely this form by
Euripides,
Cyclops 315, where the Silenus [
Author,
Myth] warns the Cyclops not to bite
Odysseus’ tongue when he devours him or he will become “glib and very talkative.” See also
Menander fr.164 Kock.
No. of records found: 1
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