What they now call a half-xestes.[1]
[So called] because that is where material [
hylê] lies [
keisthai].[2]
A kind of cup with the same name as the liquid vessel, like a choinix.
And a kind of measure.[3] And the hollow [part] of the bone, in which the head of the thigh bone turns.[4]
And what is used to carry loads, which was first invented by
Protagoras: for he was a porter.[5]
*kotu/lh: o(\ nu=n kalou=sin h(mi/ceston. para\ to\ e)kei= kei=sqai th\n u(/lhn. ei)=dos pothri/ou o(mwnu/mou tw=| a)ggei/w| tw=| u(grw=|, w(s xoi=nic. kai\ ei)=dos me/trou. kai\ to\ koi=lon tou= o)ste/ou, e)/nqa h( kefalh\ tou= mhrou= e)nstre/fetai. kai\ e)f' h(=s ta\ forti/a basta/zousin, h(\n prw=tos e)feu=re *prwtago/ras: formofo/ros ga\r h)=n.
[1] Variations of the definition appear in the
scholia to
Aristophanes,
Plutus [
Wealth] 436, 737, 1054, as well as
epsiloniota 184. The kotyle was a measure of volume/capacity (wet or dry), equating in present-day terms to around a quarter of a litre. A xestes was defined to be twice the size of the kotyle.
[2] The
Etymologicum Gudianum attempts the same derivation for
oi)=kos "house".
[3] LSJ s.v.
kotu/lh 1 gives both as definitions of
kotu/lh --- "small vessel, cup". This appears to be distinguishing the two senses, but is in fact a garbling of Aristonicus,
De Signis Iliadis 22.494 (also in the
scholia ad loc.): "
pu/rnon and
kotu/lh are used synonymously [in
Odyssey 17.12] for a vessel for liquids." (Incorrect: the
pu/rnos is a loaf of bread.)
LSJ defines
xoi=nic as only a measure, and not a vessel, so it is not a parallel formation. While the
kotu/lh was primarily a liquid measure (LSJ s.v. 3) and only occasionally a dry measure (LSJ s.v. 3b), the
xoi=nic was a dry measure.
[4] LSJ s.v. 2: socket, especially hip-socket:
Homer,
Iliad 5.306. This sense derives, like "cup", from the primitive meaning "something hollow". The definition is taken from the
scholia ad loc.
[5] This is a garbling of
Aristotle fr. 1.7.63 Rose =
Diogenes Laertius 9.53: what is so defined is the
kaloume/nhn tu/lhn, "the so-called shoulder-pad".
Protagoras' career is also mentioned in
phi 610.
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