Pir
Pir grece ignis pira est rogus piretos febris.
Apparatus:
Ms. e rubricates all Greek words: Pir, Pira, Piretos.
pira AC ef | pirua B
est om. B ef
piretos ABC e | piretes f {'o' misread as 'e'}
Translation:
Pir is Greek for Latin ignis {"fire"}, Greek pira is in Latin rogus {"funeral pile; (transf.) the grave"}; and Greek piretos is Latin in febris {"fever"}.
Commentary:
Simon mentions a number of Greek words that are all connected through the common root /pyr/ meaning "fire".
πῦρ /pŷr/ is "fire, funeral fire"; πυρά /pyrá/ means "funeral pyre, altar for burnt sacrifice; fire burning on the altar"; πυρετός /pyretós/ is "burning or fiery heat; feverish heat, fever". Υ/υ by now no longer represented the sound similar to French 'u', German 'ü' but had changed into the vowel sound as in English "ski", the pronunciation Simon portrays: /pir/, /pirá/, /piretós/.
Wilf Gunther 09/01/2014
