Note 46 — Chapter XXXI · KRATYLUS.

Dionys. Hal. De Comp. Verbor. c. 16, p. 96, Reiske; Plutarch, De Isid. et Osir. c. 60, p. 375.

Proklus advises that those who wish to become dialecticians should begin with the study of the Kratylus (Schol. ad Kratyl. p. 3, ed. Boiss.).

We read in the Phædrus of Plato (p. 244 B) in the second speech ascribed to Sokrates, two etymologies:— 1. μαντικὴ derived from μανικὴ by the insertion of τ, which Sokrates declares to be done in bad taste, οἱ δὲ νῦν ἀπειροκάλως τὸ ταῦ ἐπεμβάλλοντες μαντικὴν ἐκάλασαν. 2. οἰωνιστικὴ, quasi οἰονοϊστικὴ, from οἴησις, νοῦς, ἱστορία. Compare the etymology of ἔρως, p. 238 C. That these are real word-changes, which Plato believes to have taken place, is the natural and reasonable interpretation of the passage. Cicero (Divinat. i. 1) alludes to the first of the two as Plato’s real opinion; and Heindorf as well as Schleiermacher accept it in the same sense, while expressing their surprise at the want of etymological perspicacity in Plato. Ast and Stallbaum, on the contrary, declare that these two etymologies are mere irony and mockery, spoken by Plato, ex mente Sophistarum, and intended as a sneer at the perverse and silly Sophists. No reason is produced by Ast and Stallbaum to justify this hypothesis, except that you cannot imagine “Platonem tam cæcum fuisse,” &c. To me this reason is utterly insufficient; and I contend, moreover, that sneers at the Sophists would be quite out of place in a speech, such as the palinode of Sokrates about Eros.