Ill-omened words · Lexicon

From the book

Alcibiades II

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordBlasphēmein here is to utter ill-omened words in a religious setting.
In Alcibiades IIThe other Greeks at 149c ask for whatever comes to mind, whether good or bad.
In this editionThe Key Words explicitly distinguish this use from the later English religious associations of blaspheme.
A place to readThe gods reject costly rites accompanied by indiscriminate requests.

Meaning

Blasphēmein here is to utter ill-omened words in a religious setting. It is opposed to euphēmia, auspicious speech. The translation deliberately avoids blaspheme, whose familiar English sense of insulting God would impose a different criterion on these passages.

Use in the book

The other Greeks at 149c ask for whatever comes to mind, whether good or bad. Their fault is not stated as disbelief or deliberate abuse of the gods: it is indiscriminate petition. To call it ill-omened speech makes a request that seems reverent to its speaker potentially defective by its very content. Gold-horned cattle and other offerings cannot correct that defect.

Socrates brings the general indictment home at 150c. If Alcibiades prays in his present condition, the god may hear ill-omened words, accept none of the sacrifice and perhaps let him acquire something further. The last phrase leaves the threatened consequence suggestive rather than naming a specific punishment. Its force is enough to justify caution without supplying a detailed theology of divine retribution.

The word therefore joins the epistemic and ritual arguments. The danger of misidentifying good and bad is not confined to a private mental error; when expressed as a petition it affects how one approaches the gods. The proposed remedy combines silence, learning and a better disposition toward people as well as gods. Correct ceremonial presentation by itself is insufficient.

Places to read

149cThe gods reject costly rites accompanied by indiscriminate requests.
150cAlcibiades’ own sacrifice is placed under the same warning.

Translation in this edition

The Key Words explicitly distinguish this use from the later English religious associations of blaspheme. Note 35 pairs it with euphēmia as vocabulary of worship. The translation’s something else besides at 150c should not be replaced by an invented definite penalty.