Oros of Alexandria
Encyclopedia
Oros was a late classical/Byzantine lexicographer and grammarian active in the mid-5th century. According to the Suda
he was born in Alexandria
and taught in Constantinople
. The Suda lists ten titles by him, but little of his work survives.
Fragments of his lexicon of Attic usages are preserved in later lexica. This work sought to counter the hyperatticist doctrine favoured by some contemporary lexicographers, who were inspired by the works of the 2nd-century grammarian Phrynichus
. Oros' work was influential in the later Byzantine lexicographical tradition.
The codex Messinensis graecus 118 contains a fragment of a work on orthography concerning the use of the iota subscript
. This is sometimes styled the Lexicon Messanense.
Fragments of two other works survive, one a list of words with more than one meaning, the other a list of toponyms and their supposed etymologies
.
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
he was born in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and taught in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. The Suda lists ten titles by him, but little of his work survives.
Fragments of his lexicon of Attic usages are preserved in later lexica. This work sought to counter the hyperatticist doctrine favoured by some contemporary lexicographers, who were inspired by the works of the 2nd-century grammarian Phrynichus
Phrynichus Arabius
Phrynichus Arabius or Phrynichus of Bithynia was a Greek grammarian who flourished in 2nd century Bithynia, writing works on proper Attic usage...
. Oros' work was influential in the later Byzantine lexicographical tradition.
The codex Messinensis graecus 118 contains a fragment of a work on orthography concerning the use of the iota subscript
Iota subscript
Iota subscript in Greek polytonic orthography is a way of writing the letter iota as a small vertical stroke beneath a vowel. It was used in the so-called "long diphthongs" in Ancient Greek, that is, diphthongs the first part of which is a long vowel: and...
. This is sometimes styled the Lexicon Messanense.
Fragments of two other works survive, one a list of words with more than one meaning, the other a list of toponyms and their supposed etymologies
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
.