Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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But as for the word λάγυνον, they say that that is the name of a measure among the Greeks, as also are the words χοὸς and κοτύλη. And they say that the λάγυνον contains twelve Attic κότυλαι.. And at Patræ they say that there is a regular measure called ἡ λάγυνος. But Nicostratus, in his Hecate, has used the word in the masculine gender, ὁ λάγυνος, where he says—

A. And yet among the flagons into which
We pour'd the wine out of the casks, now tell me
What is the measure some of them contain ῾πηλίκοι τινές᾿̣
B. They hold three choes each.

And again he says—

Bring us the full flagon ῾τὸν μεστὸν λάγυνον̓.

And, in the play entitled The Couch, he says—

And this most odious flagon's ῾λάγυνος οὗτος᾿ full of vinegar.

Diphilus, in his People Saved, says—

I have an empty flagon, my good woman,
And a full wallet.

And Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras, says, —“At the time that you sojourned in Samos, O Diagoras, I know that you often came to banquets at my house, at which a flagon was placed by each man, and filled with wine, so as to allow every one to drink at his pleasure.” And Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Thessalians, says that the word is used by the Thessalians in the feminine gender, as ἡ λάγυνος. And Rhianus the epic poet, in his Epigrams, says—

This flagon ῾ἥδε λάγυνος᾿ O Archinus, seems to hold
One half of pitch from pines, one half of wine;
And I have never met a leaner kid:
And he who sent these dainties to us now,
Hippocrates, has done a friendly deed,
And well deserves to meet with praise from all men.

But Diphilus, in his Brothers, has used the word in the neuter gender—

O conduct worthy of a housebreaker
Or felon, thus to take a flagon now
Under one's arm, and so go round the inns;
And then to sell it, while, as at a picnic,
[p. 799] One single vintner doth remain behind,
Defrauded by his wine-merchant.

And the line in the Geryonis of Stesichorus— A measure of three flagons ῾ἔμμετρον ὡς τριλάγυνον̓ leaves it quite uncertain under what gender the word is to be classed as far as respects that line. But Eratosthenes says that the words πέτασος and στάμνος are also used as feminine nouns by some authors.