Wordplay in a fragment of Menander
- Peter Lech
- Mar 15
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 20

Menander is not really known for wordplay. But there is one in the following fragment that is not attributed to any play (572 K.-T.), See if you can find it before turning to the translation.
οἰκεῖον οὕτως οὐδέν ἐστιν, ὦ Λάχης,
ἐὰν σκοπῇ τις, ὡς ἀνήρ τε καὶ γυνή.
Laches, there is nothing so oikeion,
if you really look at it, than man and wife.
The pun turns on the double-sense of the word oikeion, which means "that which belongs to the household; domestic" and "that which is fitting or proper". So that, the verse means: "there is nothing so fitting or proper as man and wife" and "there is nothing that's as part of a household as man and wife." Pretty subtle, and not necessarily a laugh-line, but...that's Menander.

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