Editing Suda (section)

==Title==
The exact spelling of the title is disputed.<ref>It is worth noticing that Adler's edition maintains the spelling ''Suida''/{{lang|grc|Σουΐδα}} (as Gaisford's and Bekker's editions did), in continuity with the manuscripts, but modern scholarship prefers ''Suda''/Σούδα.</ref> The transmitted title (''paradosis'') is "Suida", which is also attested in [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]]' commentary on [[Homer]]'s epic poems; several conjectures has been made, both defending it and trying to correct it in "Suda".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Nuovo |first=Claudia |date=2022 |title=Un'ultima ''teichotaphromachia'' per il lessico ''Suda'' |journal=Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik |volume=72 |pages=421–426}}</ref>

* [[Paul Maas (classical scholar)|Paul Maas]] advocated for the {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}} spelling, connecting it to the Latin verb {{wikt-lang|la|sūdā}}, the second-person singular imperative of {{wikt-lang|la|sudo|sūdāre}}, "to sweat".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maas |first=Paul |date=1932 |title=Der Titel des "Suidas" |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/byzs.1932.32.1.1 |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1932.32.1.1 |s2cid=191333687 |via=De Gruyter}}</ref>
* [[Franz Dölger]] also defended {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}}, tracing its origins back to Byzantine military lexicon ({{wikt-lang|grc|σοῦδα}}, "ditch, trench", then "fortress").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dölger |first=Franz |title=Der Titel der sogenannten Suidaslexicons |publisher=Bayerische Akademie des Wissenschaften |year=1936 |series=''Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Abteilung. Jahrgang'' 1936. ''Heft'' 6 |location=München}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dölger |first=Franz |date=1938 |title=Zur σοῦδα – Frage |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=36–57 |doi=10.1515/byzs.1938.38.1.36 |s2cid=191479647}}</ref>
* [[Henri Grégoire (historian)|Henri Grégoire]], starting from a critique to Dölger's interpretation, defended a proposal advanced by one of his pupils, and explained the word {{lang|grc|Σοῦδα}} as the acrostic of {{lang|grc|Συναγογὴ ὀνομάτων ὑπὸ διαφόρων ἀνδρῶν σοφῶν}}, "Collection of names (words) by different learned men", or alternatively {{lang|grc|Συναγογὴ ὀνομαστικῆς ὕλης δι’ ἀλφαβήτου}}, "Collection of lexicographical material in alphabetical order".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1937 |title=Suidas et son mystère |journal=Les études classiques |volume=6 |pages=346–355}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1937 |title=Étymologies byzantino-latines |journal=Byzantion |volume=12 |pages=293–300; 658–666}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1938 |title=La teichotaphromachia |journal=Byzantion |volume=13 |pages=389–391}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grégoire |first=Henri |date=1944–1945 |title=La fin d'une controverse: koptō taphron, taphrokopō |journal=Byzantion |volume=17 |pages=330–331}}</ref> This suggestion was also supported by French Hellenist and Byzantinist [[Alphonse Dain]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dain |first=Alphonse |date=1937 |title=Suda dans les traités militaires |journal=Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves |volume=5 |pages=233–241}}</ref>
* [[Silvio Giuseppe Mercati]] wrote on the matter twice: firstly in an article appeared in the academic journal ''Byzantion'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mercati |first=Silvio Giuseppe |date=1957 |title=Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia |journal=Byzantion |volume=25/26/27 |issue=1 |pages=173–93}}</ref> and later in an expanded version of the same.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mercati |first=Silvio Giuseppe |date=1960 |title=Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia |journal=Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memorie, Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche |volume=8 |issue=10 |pages=3–50}}</ref> He suggested a link with the Neo-Latin substantive {{wikt-lang|la|guida}} ("guide"), transliterated in Greek as {{lang|grc|γουίδα}} and later miswritten as {{lang|grc|σουίδα}}. This interpretation was strongly criticized by Dölger, who also refused to publish Mercati's first article in the ''Byzantinische Zeitschrift''; on the other hand, Giuseppe Schirò supported it.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schirò |first=Giuseppe |date=1958 |title=Da Suida-Suda a Guida |journal=Archivio Storico per la Calabria e la Lucania |volume=27 |pages=171–176}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schirò |first=Giuseppe |date=1962 |title=Si torna a Suida (= Guida) |journal=Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale |volume=4 |pages=240–241}}</ref>
* [[Bertrand Hemmerdinger]] interpreted Σουΐδας as a [[Doric Greek|Doric]] [[Genitive case|genitive]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hemmerdinger |first=Bertrand |date=1998 |title=Suidas, et non la Souda |journal=Bollettino dei Classici |series=3rd Series |volume=19 |pages=31–32}}</ref>

Other suggestions include Jan Sajdak's theory that {{lang|grc|σοῦδα / σουίδα}} may derive from [[Sanskrit]] {{wikt-lang|sa|सुविद्या}} ''suvidyā'' (which he translated into Latin: ''perfecta cumulataque scientia'', "collected and systemized knowledge");<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sajdak |first=Jan |title=Wielka literatura powszechna Trzaski, Everta i Michalskiego |date=1933 |editor-last=Lam |editor-first=S. |volume=4. Literatury słowiańskie, literatura bizantyjska i nowogrecka |location=Warszawa |pages=723 |chapter=Literatura Bizantyńska |editor-last2=Brückner |editor-first2=A.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sajdak |first=Jan |date=1934 |title=Liber Suda |journal=Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Prace Komisji Filologicznej |volume=7 |pages=249–272}}</ref> Giuseppe Scarpat's link to an unidentified Judas, the supposed author of the Lexicon;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scarpat |first=Giuseppe |date=1960–1961 |title=Una nuova ipotesi sull'autore del lessico detto di Suida |journal=Atti del Sodalizio Glottologico Milanese |volume=14 |pages=3–11}}</ref> and Hans Gerstinger's explanation which points at Russian {{wikt-lang|ru|суда́}} ''sudá'' "here", as the answer to the question "{{lang|grc|τί ποῦ κεῖται;}}" "what and where is it?".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gerstringer |first=Hans |date=1961 |title=Review of: S. G. Mercati, Intorno al titolo dei lessici di Suida-Suda e di Papia, Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Memorie, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche VIII, 10 (1960) 3–50 |journal=Gnomon |volume=50 |pages=783–785}}</ref> The most recent explanation{{which|date=September 2024}} as of 2024 has been advanced by [[Claudia Nuovo]], who defended Σοῦδα on palaeographical, philological and historical grounds{{how|date=September 2024}}.<ref name=":0" />