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[421d] Now this may be true of some of them, and also on account of the lapse of time it may be impossible to find out about the earliest words; for since words get twisted in all sorts of ways, it would not be in the least wonderful if the ancient Greek word should be identical with the modern foreign one.

Hermogenes
That is not unlikely.

Socrates
It is indeed quite probable. However, we must play the game1 and investigate these questions vigorously. But let us bear in mind that if a person asks


1 A proverbial expression.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

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