you've asked whether:
> Is there a grammatical reason for for the variant spellings of the name
> Diophant-ES, -OS, -US ?
in addition to what was already remarked in earlier postings (esp. that
"-us" is latin for the greek "-os") i can imagine two reasons for the
version ending on "-es". (i) it is a common linguistic phenomenon that
words are modified according to better known paradigms; hence, it could be
possible that "socrates", "aristoteles", "themistokles", demosthenes" etc.
were resposible for "diophantes" (though it would distort the original
pronounciation by moving the stress). (ii) proper names are changed in
foreign languages to faciliate pronounciation etc.; so we have "aristotle"
in english or "diophante" in french. put some additional flexion on it - a
lot of languages use "s" for these purposes - and you might arrive at
"diophantes".
(i have some doubts concerning "diophantHs & aristotle's politics". first,
it couldn't be 'our' diophantus, since he lived a AD, and not BC. second,
if it is diophant the rhetor and politician, who is mentioned in
aristotle's politics, his name is usually rendered with "-os". third, even
if "diophantHs" does occur in aristotle's politics, how could this have
possibly influenced the spelling of 'our' diophant?)
regards, bb
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Bernd Buldt
FG Philosophie | Fon: [+49] (0)7531/88-2794 (Office)
Universitaet Konstanz | Fax: [+49] (0)7531/88-4121
D-78457 Konstanz | Fon/Fax: [+49] (0)7731/24116 (Private)
Germany | email: bernd.buldt@uni-konstanz.de
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