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ἡ λέξις τῆς ἡμέρας (κς’) – Ancient Greek Word of the Day (26)

January 19, 2022 by Jenny

ἡ φώκη, -ης – a seal

περὶ τῶν φωκῶν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης γράφει τόδε·

„Εὐλόγως δ’ ἀπείργασται ἡ φύσις καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν φώκην· τετράπουν γὰρ ὂν καὶ ζῳοτόκον οὐκ ἔχει ὦτα ἀλλὰ πόρους μόνον. αἴτιον δ’ ὅτι ἐν ὑγρῷ αὐτῇ ὁ βίος. τὸ γὰρ τῶν ὤτων μόριον πρόσκειται τοῖς πόροις πρὸς τὸ σώζειν τὴν τοῦ πόρρωθεν ἀέρος κίνησιν· οὐθὲν οὖν χρήσιμόν ἐστιν αὐτῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἀπεργάζοιτ’ ἂν δεχόμενα εἰς αὑτὰ ὑγροῦ πλῆθος.“

Aristotle writes the following about the seals:

“Nature did also a great job with the seal: For even though it is a four-legged mammal (lit. „giving birth to living off-spring“, ζῳοτόκος) it does not have ears but only (auditory) canals. The reason is that it lives in the water. For (in other animals) the ears as a body part lie before the (auditory) canals so as to collect the movement of the air from afar: This would not be useful for the seal but on the contrary (the ears) would end up taking in great amounts of water.” (Aristotle, De generatione animalium 781b)

Filed Under: Ancient Greek Word of the Week

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