eul_aid: rdk
Αἴλιος Μοίρης ὁ Ἀττικιστής
Aelius Moeris the Atticist
1 work

Aelius Moeris was a Greek grammarian and lexicographer who lived during the Roman Imperial period, most likely in the 2nd century CE. The details of his personal life, including his birthplace and exact dates, are not known. He is identified by his surviving work as a dedicated follower of the Atticist movement. This movement, prominent in the cultural period known as the Second Sophistic, aimed to revive the classical Athenian (Attic) form of Greek used centuries earlier, in opposition to the common Greek (Koine) spoken in his own time.

His one known surviving work is a lexicon, often titled Atticist or Attic Words. It is structured as a practical guide, listing vocabulary entries that compare what "Atticists" say—the prescribed classical form—with what "Hellenes," or contemporary speakers, say. The work served as a manual for writers and orators who wanted to use the prestigious Attic dialect correctly.

According to modern scholars, Aelius Moeris is a significant source for understanding the linguistic ideals of his era. His glossary provides direct evidence for which contemporary words and forms were considered incorrect by language purists. While his work is less extensive than that of some other Atticist grammarians, it remains an important document for tracing the history of the Greek language and the efforts to standardize it during the Roman period. His treatise was later consulted and preserved by Byzantine scholars.

Available Works

Ἀττικὸν Λεξικόν
Attic Lexicon
28 passages

Sources