Latin Lexicography and Textual Criticism: A Lexical Note on Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5.380

Abstract Lexicographical investigation, carried out in the drafting of the verbs renodo and renudo in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, can be useful for textual criticism by its proposing of new conjectures or its explanation of existing ones, by reconstructing the history and the use of a given word. This paper discusses Harm Marien Poortvliet’s conjecture renudatam pharetris in place of the transmitted renodatam pharetris in Valerius Flaccus 5.380, which helps us better understand the meaning and the use of the verb renudo in the text and the different value of the prefix re- in renodo and renudo, for which we also consider other contexts such as Hor. epod. 11.28.