5.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
5.2.1 TMT Consensus
The name of the principal character, Wqel}kor, the Athenian citizen who meets the god Wealth and manages to restore him to the good and righteous citizens, is probably of the generic type. A real, but rare name (attested for the classical period, though not at Athens),825it is sim-ilar to the Athenian name Wq´lgr, borne by a character in Ecclesiazusae and a typical name in later comedy. Both names must be relevant to the root wqel- of wqelet¸fy (used for the sound made by horses, ‘neigh’), which seems to be of onomatopoeic origin; the Homeric nameWqol_or (Il. 5.677) is a cognate, a probable ‘speaking’ name that reflects the noise of battle.826 But this root has also produced a number of fish names,
822 The later of two Aristophanic plays of that name (produced in 388); on the first Wealth and the relationship between the two see Sommerstein 2001: 28 – 33.
823 Although relevant hints are not entirely absent, e. g. ll. 170 – 80.
824 On Athenian finances at the time see Hornblower 20023: 203 – 4 (‘the 390 s in particular were a lean time financially’).
825 Its only two attestations are both from Euboia (fifth century and hellenistic pe-riod, LGPN I).
826 Cf.wq|lador cem}ym(Il. 23.688), for the crashing sound of jaws in battle.
probably on the basis of the noise produced by fish:827wq´lgr(Opp. H.
1. 112, Ael. NA 15. 11),wq|lir(Arist. HA 534 a 9, 601 b 30, Ael. NA 9.
7), wq]lur (Arist. fr. 294,828 Hsch.).829 This could explain the origin of these names’ generic comic value. There is indeed nothing in the play (no context, deed or word-play) that would imply a more specif-ically appropriate significance for Chremylos; this, together with the fact that it was only heard twice in the play (336, 1171), may imply that it would not attract too much notice. This not very striking name complements a character who is far less exuberant than other Ar-istophanic heroes.830Noticeably Chremylos is an old man’s name, just as Chremes in Ecclesiazusae, which may suggest that names from this root had become common for comic old men.
11.2 Personifications
Wealth is present on stage from the start, but his name is first heard at his self-introduction (9c½ c²q eQli PkoOtor, 78); it is then often repeated in the play. The name is that of a minor divinity (a son of Demeter by a mortal man, Hes. Th. 969 – 74); the plural of the name is found as a title of a play by Cratinus (Ploutoi), but this seems to refer to the
dai-827 Chantraine (1999 s.v.wqelet_fy) notes that in other languages this root can be associated with expression of feelings (anger and dissatisfaction). Such a signifi-cance, however, is not attested for the Greek language (where the root had an independent semantic development, as Chantraine notes), and therefore it is hardly possible to allege (with Barton 1990: 27) a meaning ‘to growl’, ‘to grum-ble’ forwqelet_fy and ‘grumbler’ for Chremylos, alluding to the complaining nature of those living in poverty. A later use of the verb is metaphorical for sex-ual desire (LSJ).
828 An emendation (relying on wq|lir) of the MSSjq]lur.
829 Vol.4 [Hansen-Cunningham]: 229, s.v. wqel}r. Relevant personal names in-clude a total of nine with Wqel- (Wq]lgr, found in Ec. 477, is the commonest, followed byWq]lym) and five withWqol- (the commonest isWq|liorwith six attestations). Aristotle mentions a north African river calledWqel]tgr(Mete. 350 b 12), presumably thus named for the noise it produced. Fish names are an es-tablished source of personal names (probably originating in sobriquets), cf.H¼m -mor‘Tunny-fish’,S²kpg‘Saupe’ (folk-etymologically related tos\kpicn ‘trum-pet’, Chantraine 1999 s.v.s\kpg),Xaq¸ym‘Starling’ (from x\q).
830 Cf. Macdowell 1995: 327.
mones mentioned by Hesiod at Op. 122 – 6.831 Ploutos is also known to real-life onomastics and is perhaps attested as early as the mid-fourth century.832 The dual function of Ploutos as a divine and personal name affects the interpretation of the pun at 391 – 2:
WQ. Oq d/t(,1peidµ PkoOtom,§ lºwhgqe s¼, 5wy.
BK. S» PkoOtom. po?om.
WQ. Aqt¹m t¹m heºm.
The pun may indeed involve two proper names, one divine and one per-sonal, on the assumption that Blepsidemos mistakenly thinks that Chre-mylos refers to a human person, not to the god. However, there is also a case for printing the second PkoOtom as a noun, which is much more common than the proper name and would suit the context.833
Although Wealth is calledhe|r, there is hardly any evidence that he received formal worship or sacrifices.834 For Aristophanes he is a figure both divine and allegorical, certainly the only personification to have a major part in the surviving plays. His weak divine status is upgraded by the poet to stress a moral point about justice (the purpose of Wealth is to make sure that people receive their fair share of his gifts).835 Pem_a, on the other hand, is a mere personification outside this play;836 nor is
831 See West (1978: 183), who notes that these divinites apparently were respon-sible for good crops, and further Bakola 2010: 135 – 6, 208 – 9 and Parker 2005:
337 n. 50.
832 P[koO]tor? (Sparta, LGPN IIIA). The name has eleven further attestations, all imperial, including one from Attica.
833 Thus Sommerstein ; but Wilson, like Coulon and Hall-Geldart, preferred a cap-ital initial for both.
834 See LIMC s.v. Ploutos (K. Clinton). A prayer toPko}t\(Th. 299) has been seen as suspicious and an emendation Pko}ty<m>i has been proposed, but has not been adopted by editors. There is evidence that Ploutos and Plouton, who were both associated with the Eleusinian festivals, were occasionally con-fused: cf. Pl. 727 (Pko}tymiforPko}t\; the possibility that it was used for a
‘touch of comic grandeur’ – thus LIMC – is unlikely), cf. Ar. fr. 504, Plato’s etymology of Plouton’s name (Cra. 403 a) and Ploutos’ inclusion (by conjec-ture) in a catalogue of deities receiving sacrifice within the Eleusis cult (IG I3 5.5); see Austin-Olson 2004: 151 – 2.
835 Cf. Long 1989: 44.
836 She only appears as a goddess in poetic and allegorical contexts, e. g. Alc.
fr. 364 V, Pl. Smp. 203 a-d (Sommerstein 2001: 169).
11.2 Personifications 185