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[4]
There is another form of
ambiguity where a word has one meaning when
entire and another when divided, as, for example,
ingenua, armameniam or Corvinum.1 The disputes
arising from such ambiguities are no more than
childish quibbles, but nevertheless the Greeks are
in the habit of making them the subject for controversial themes, as, for example, in the notorious
case of the αὐλητρίς, when the question is whether
it is a hall which has fallen down three times (αὔλη
τρίς) or a flute-player who fell down that is to be sold.
1 Inyenua, a freeborn woman; in genua, on to the knees. Armamentum, equipment; arma mentum, arms, chin. Corvinum, ace. of name Corvinus; cor vimium, heart, wine.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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