From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe paired labels mark classes within vocal sound and letters. The Philebus sequence also retains an intermediate class before dividing each down to individual numbered elements.
- In StobaeusThe Theuth story moves from an unlimited field of sound to distinct groups and members, using differentiation and number as steps toward an organized art of letters.
- In this editionRetain the source’s threefold distinction and qualified attribution. Do not substitute a complete modern phonetic classification or treat the supplied word same as independent lexical evidence.
- A place to readChapter 4 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 1 Read the vowels, intermediate sounds and mutes in their printed sequence, then the division to individual elements, rather than reducing the passage to a simple twofold opposition.
- English renderings
- vowel; mute; voiceless letter
Meaning
Phōnēen is the substantivized term for a vowel; aphōnon is something without voice, here a mute letter. The excerpt’s plural forms belong to a classification of vocal and written elements.
Use in the book
In the Philebus selection, the discoverer first recognizes that vowels are several rather than one. Other sounds form an intermediate class, and what are now called mutes form a third. The procedure continues down to individual elements until their number is grasped. The point is the discrimination of an articulated field within apparently unlimited sound. The next unit joins the classes again through the single art of letters. Division and systematic connection therefore belong together; the passage does not merely prefer written marks to audible speech.
The investigation begins with plurality inside what appears unlimited. Recognizing several vowels does not finish the work, because further sounds require their own class and number. Mutes form a third group, and the procedure then divides the groups down to individual members. The resulting name element applies to each and to all. This progression explains why the paired headwords should be read with the intermediate group still present. The story’s organization of the field matters more here than an attempt to make its classes coincide exactly with modern terminology.
Places to read
- Chapter 4 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 12Vowels, intermediate sounds and mutes are distinguished.
- Chapter 4 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 22Their mutual connection supports a unified expertise.
Translation in this edition
Vowels and mutes preserve the contrast used by the excerpt. The description of intermediate sounds should not be silently replaced with an exhaustive list of present-day phonetic categories.
φωνήεντα
Attested. Chapter 4 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 1; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 30.
πρῶτος τὰ φωνήεντα ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ κατενόησεν
ἄφωνα
Attested. Chapter 4 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 1; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 30.
τὰ νῦν λεγόμενα ἄφωνα ἡμῖν
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed p. 30. The headwords are singular dictionary forms; the positive running-text witnesses are plural. Only the word “same” in this account is supplied, not the vowel or mute vocabulary.