From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordλαγχάνω describes obtaining something as a share or portion.
- In the Orphic HymnsPoseidon receives the deep sea at XVII.7 and Plouton receives earth at XVIII.6.
- TranslationThe supplied English alternates “were allotted,” “obtained,” and “got” appropriately to the objects.
- A place to readThe sea explicitly received as a third allotted portion.
- English renderings
- To receive as one’s share; to obtain
Meaning
λαγχάνω describes obtaining something as a share or portion. Context decides how strongly allotment is felt: receiving a cosmic domain is not quite the same as obtaining a guide. The aorist ἔλαχες and participle λαχοῦσα belong together under this verb, but neither is a form of λαμβάνω, “take” or “receive,” despite the similarity of English translations.
Use in the book
Poseidon receives the deep sea at XVII.7 and Plouton receives earth at XVIII.6. Both clauses explicitly add τριτάτης μοίρης, a third portion, so the language of allocation is unmistakable. The verb identifies receipt of the domain; the accompanying μοῖρα supplies the stated division. These two passages are the best controls for the stronger “be allotted” rendering.
Elsewhere the objects are less like territories. Aphrodite has received renowned gifts in Prayer.11. Leto obtains fruitful childbirth at XXXV.3, where receiving can embrace a painful event valued for its children. Antaia obtains Dysaules’s holy child as guide at XLI.6. Reading the last simply as “having obtained” preserves the useful person and role without inventing a lottery. Across the passages, the subject receives what the hymn then describes as a gift, experience, or assistance.
Places to read
- Hymn XVII · Line 7The sea explicitly received as a third allotted portion.
- Hymn XVIII · Line 6The corresponding allocation of earth to Plouton.
- Hymn XXXV · Line 3Childbirth, rather than territory, is what Leto receives.
- Hymn XLI · Line 6The practical acquisition of a guide qualifies the stronger allotment sense.
Translation
The supplied English alternates “were allotted,” “obtained,” and “got” appropriately to the objects. The apparatus reports ἔλαβες at XVII.7 and λαβοῦσα at XXXV.3; the reported version of XLI.6 also contains λαβοῦσα within a larger altered phrase. Those alternatives use the receiving vocabulary of λαμβάνω rather than the printed λαγχάνω family. They must not be silently counted as occurrences of the adopted verb.
Attested forms
ἔλαχες; λαχοῦσα
Occurrence inventory
5 in total. Prayer.11; XVII.7; XVIII.6; XXXV.3; XLI.6