Re: [HM] Question for Greek scholars

Antreas P. Hatzipolakis (xpolakis@otenet.gr)
Mon, 9 Aug 1999 17:06:07 +0300 (EET DST)

Phill Schultz wrote:

>> Is there a grammatical reason for the variant spellings of the name
>> Diophant-ES, -OS, -US ?

and Gordon Fisher responded:

> I should let Antreas Hatzipolakis answer this one (I know your name now,

OK, Gordon, but as a Greek (not as a scholar!) :-)

> Antreas), but briefly, I take it that the difference between Diophantos
> and Diophantus is one between transliteration of Greek, where 'o' comes
> from an omicron, and the customary Latin form of the name. Both are,
> I think, nominative case, so I guess one can say the difference is
> alphabetical rather than grammatical. I don't recall having ever seen
> Diophantes, which just looks like a wrong spelling to me.

You are right. The name is DIO/FANTOS, with the accent on O
[transliterated: Diophantos]
The DIOPHANTUS is just its latinization.

The transliterated Diophantes is the Greek: DIOFA/NTHS [H = eta;
with the accent on A].

If I remember correctly, it appears in Aristotle (Politics?).

Antreas