Sorry this is so off the topic but I was wondering about the significance of the name Elissa, versus Dido.� My AP students were intrigued that Aeneas used Elissa�in referring to the queen at line 335 of Bk IV.� We don't think that this name was applied to her before this line and therefore, we are wondering if there is�any significance that to its use at this particular juncture?�
Since no-one else has suggested anything, let me, belatedly, answer.
The only form of _Dido_ that Vergil uses is _Dido_. He does not use the Latin genitive _Didonis_, which would have sounded too archaic for his age, nor does he use the Greek genitive _Didus_, which would have been too precious for a Roman epic. Therefore he needed another name; and what better choice, if Aeneas is trying to mollify the angry queen, than her own name for herself? According to the late Hellenistic treatise on women warriors, _Gunaikes en polemikois sunetai kai andreiai_, recently edited by Deborah Gera (_The Anonymous_ Tractatus de Mulieribus, Leiden: Brill, 1997), Timaeus had said it was her Phoenician name; and that is the name she will apply to herself in line 610. So, 'I shall be very happy [nec pigebit = et magnopere iuvabit] to remember "Elissa".' Of course it doesn't work, since nothing would have soothed her; but at least he tried (or he stopped at nothing, if you prefer).
Leofranc Holford-Strevens -- *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ
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