Ois
Ois grece ovis pecus que et provaton dicitur.
Apparatus:
prouaton B | prouarõ AD {'t' misread as 'r'} | probatio C | prouocao ms. e | pronao f
Translation:
Ois is Greek for Latin ovis {"sheep"} and pecus {"cattle"}; another Greek word for sheep is provaton.
Commentary:
Simon uses here a transliteration of Greek οἶς /oîs/, "sheep" and adding its synonym πρόβατον /próbaton/, which originally referred to "cattle, small cattle, herd", but was later used almost exclusively for "sheep". The spelling οἶς /oîs/ reflects the pronunciation of the word in classical times, but by Simon's time this spelling was purely historical, the word's actual pronunciation being /is/.
In his parallel entry under Is Simon actually uses a phonetic spelling of οἶς /oîs/. Also: the spelling of πρόβατον /próbaton/ with /b/ > /v/ reflects the late Greek pronunciation /próvaton/. In provaron 't' was misread as 'r' by some copyist in the transmission chain. In print C the Greek word was misinterpreted as being Latin probatio "trial, inspection, examination", which makes little sense in this context. Ms. e has provocatio and ms. f has a similar misinterpretation.
Wilf Gunther 08/05/2014
