From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAleiphō means smear; coat a surface with something.
- In LysisThe colour example uses active, passive, and compound forms to distinguish applying a material, the thing coated, and what is spread on it.
- Reading contextThe edition notes textual corrections in the surrounding sentence, so the printed forms should be followed rather than silently harmonized.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “What is smeared on, to the thing smeared.”
- English renderings
- Smear; coat a surface with something
Meaning
Smear; coat a surface with something.
Grammatical category: verb.
Use in the book
The colour example uses active, passive, and compound forms to distinguish applying a material, the thing coated, and what is spread on it. τὸ ἀλειφθέν is the coated thing; τὸ ἐπαλειφθέν is what has been applied.
This grammatical distinction is essential to the question whether the bearer becomes the same kind of thing as the coating. The edition notes textual corrections in the surrounding sentence, so the printed forms should be followed rather than silently harmonized.