A worthless wild herb.[1] Hence the proverb "and a blue pimpernel among herbs". [2] Some render the korchoros as a certain fish, like the dolphin-fish,[3] and as a cheap dish. But the proverb is spoken of the unworthy and base, who lay claim to an honour greater than what they are due.
*ko/rxoros: a)/grion la/xanon eu)tele/s. dio\ kai\ h( paroimi/a: kai\ ko/rxoros e)n laxa/nois. e)/nioi i)xqu\n poio\n to\n ko/rxoron a)podido/asin, w(s to\n i(/ppouron, kai\ w(s eu)tele\s e)/desma. le/getai de\ e)pi\ tw=n a)naci/wn h( paroimi/a kai\ tapeinw=n, metapoioume/nwn de\ timh=s h)\ kaq' e(autou\s mei/zonos.
Same entry in
Photius,
Lexicon kappa996 Theodoridis; similar ones elsewhere (see Th.'s references, and notes below).
[1] Also glossed in
Hesychius kappa3736 (s.v.
ko/rxoron) as "a wild herb". We know this is the blue pimpernel through Dioscurides Pedanius,
De Materia Medica 2.178, where it is used as an alternative name for
a)nagalli\s h( kuanh=,
Anagallis caerulea.
[2]
Zenobius 4.57,
Diogenianus 5.36a (repeated in
Apostolius 9.100);
scholia on
Aristophanes,
Wasps 239a, 239b (web address 1);
scholia on
Nicander,
Theriaca 626a; often in the variant
ko/rkoros. Mangled in
kappa 1404 as a reference to galleys (
ke/rkouros).
LSJ s.v.
ko/rxoros suggests the equivalent "a tailor among kings".
Zenobius gives the wording used by the Suda: "the Peloponnesians call 'blue pimpernel' a certain wild herb, of the worthless sort; hence the proverb."
Diogenianus actually explains it: "[proverb] concerning those who are worthless, but think of themselves as great. For the blue pimpernel is a kind of worthless plant."
[3] Better known now as mahi-mahi:
Coryphaena hippurus. This interpretation of the word comes from the
scholia to
Aristophanes,
Wasps 239a (see above): "against
Lycophron, who said the
korkoros is a little fish; but he is deceived, as
Eratosthenes says, for it a wild and worthless herb". The word is not present in our attested corpus of
Lycophron.
Hesychius (above) also glosses the word as "fat".
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