Pindar Pythian 2.52-56, πιαίνοµαι, and Πιερίς: Unhealthy and Healthy Fats in Greek and Indo-European

I investigate the inherited phraseological background of Pindar, Pythian Two, lines 52-56, which include a number of metaphorical expressions for Archilochus’ poetry of blame. I identify Indo-European phraseological parallels for δάκος ... κακαγοριᾶν (53) and βαρυλόγοις ἔχθεσιν (55). As Plato Laws 934d-935e reveals, metaphors found in P. 2.52-56 belong to the semantic field of ‘food/eating’. In this connection, I provide a comparative overview on the tie between verbal abuse and gluttony in Greek and linguistically related traditions. Blame/praise-related food/drink images are the same: blame-metaphors often reverse praise-metaphors. The use of πιαίνοµαι at Pi. P. 2.56 may offer an instance of the same process: the Indo-European root *peiH̯- ‘swell’, from which πιαίνοµαι is derived, underlies Greek Πιερίς and Vedic payi swell’, which describe prosperity associated with praise-poetry within the Greek and Old Indic traditions.