[Meaning] things that are circular and round.[1]
Also [sc. attested is]
sfairopaiktei=n ['to play ball'],[2] the [verb that means] to play with balls.
"And darts and an ever-thrown ball."[3] [Meaning] one that is always being thrown.
Also [sc. attested is the adverb] "ball-wise," [meaning] in the manner of balls.[4]
"Aristonikos of
Karystos, the ball-mate of King Alexander, played ball-gymnastics."[5]
Sphaira: ta peripherê kai strongula. kai Sphairopaiktein, to dia sphairas paizein. kai schizas kai sphairan aeibolon. tên aei ballomenên. kai Sphairêdon, dia sphairas. tên de sphairistikên epaixen Aristonikos ho Karustios, ho Alexandrou tou basileôs susphairistês.
[1] The glosses here are neuter plurals, nominative or accusative, which may indicate that the lexicographer has mistaken the headword for being the same, when in fact it is a nominative singular feminine noun. Possibly the reading of the headword should be a neuter plural noun or adjective like
sfairi/a ('little balls') or
sfairika/ ('ball-like'), or was perhaps misread for such. Compare
Hesychius sigma2835, where forms of the same adjective are used to gloss the related adverb
sfairhdo/n (which is glossed differently in the present entry below -- see n. 4).
[2] This verb (here in the present active infinitive) is unattested elsewhere prior to the Suda, but the same form does appear later in the poetry of Manuel Philes 2.1.898.
[3]
Greek Anthology 6.282.5 (
Theodorus), quoted also
pi 1361,
pi 1385,
pi 1596.
[4] Possibly from commentary to
Homer,
Iliad 13.204, where the lemma occurs; cf.
scholia ad loc. and
Hesychius sigma2835.
[5] Basically the same statement is made about this gentleman in
omicron 670 and
chi 398, except in those entries he is called a
sfairisth/s ('ball-player') rather than a
susfairisth/s ('ball-mate'); cf.
Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists 1.18A [1.34 Kaibel]. To judge by the content of the other Suda entries, the statement may originate from commentary to the display of ball-gymnastics in
Homer,
Odyssey Books 6 and 8.
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