I'm teaching Aristophanes' (wonderfully complex and remarkably topical) THESMOPHORIAZUSAE in Greek this Fall. Less than two weeks in, the students and I have been struggling with a few terms, and especially the word χωλός. THREAD [1/13]

The LSJ (the Victorian-era, yet still industry-standard Greek dictionary for most Classicists) defines χωλός variously as: "lame in the feet"; "halting"; "limping"; even more generally "defective" or "one-sided" (asymmetrical). [2/13]

Not exactly "P.C." stuff, this. And it comes as no surprise that the word "cripple" is not uncommon in translation. [3/13]

The core idea is limited mobility, whether through a wound (cf. Philoctetes, Telephus) or congenital condition (e.g., clubfoot). Outside of medical treatises, however, the ancients didn't seem to be as concerned with etiology so much as effects. [4/13]

As someone who writes on ugliness and related forms of devaluation in Attic drama, I'm familiar with the term and its various resonances in the ancient world. [5/13]

But this is the first time I've taught the word to undergraduates, and it's been quite a different experience when we have to say/discuss the word out loud and offer our own translation. [6/13]

The word comes up early in the play's prologue, when Euripides' unnamed "Inlaw" makes a joke that his famous relation will teach him to become "χωλός" in both his legs. [7/13]

The Greek here is χωλὸς τὼ σκέλει which, given the lexical emphasis on asymmetry, is a mildly oxymoronic dual form that my students were none-too-happy to return to after summer vacation... [8/13]

This joke operates on several levels: 1) It mocks the penchant of the historical Euripides for impoverished and disabled heroes; 2) It mocks the Euripides-character, who has been dragging his aged Inlaw across Athens on a seemingly endless journey. [9/13]

But of course the humor also 3) "punches down" on the disabled, who are, in the final analysis, the butt of the joke. [10/13]

Even as the class is (reluctantly) coming to terms with the general chauvinism of Aristophanic protagonists, this word, in its context, has posed some knotty problems. [11/13]

How to capture the levity that comes with mocking fictional tragedy while at the same recognizing the realities, the subjectivities, and the social predicaments of fellow members of the community? [12/13]

We're working through various levels of translation in this class, from clear renderings of syntax at the clausal level to adaptation in a very loose sense. How we'll figure this one out though... well, let's just hope it end in comedy! [13/13]