克拉底鲁篇

《克拉底鲁篇》（古希腊语：Κρατύλος Kratýlos、拉丁语：Cratylus）是柏拉图的一篇对话作品，普遍认为属于其中期作品。这一对话的主题是关于命名的起源，文中克拉底鲁所代表的一派观点认为名有正与误的区别：正名与其所命名之物相符合，而不正之名则与所命名之物不符；与之相对的另一派观点由赫尔墨革涅斯代表，认为所有名称的由来都是约定俗成，没有所谓正误。苏格拉底受此二人相托，介入进他们的辩论，然而经过一番讨论后，苏格拉底最终得出了他著名的结论：哲学应当是对事物自身而不是对语言的研究，并以此同时否定了两人的论点。

Cratylus ( KRAT-il-əs; Ancient Greek: Κρατύλος, Kratylos) is the name of a dialogue by Plato. Most modern scholars agree that it was written mostly during Plato's so-called middle period. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, whether names are "conventional" or "natural", that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an intrinsic relation to the things they signify.

Cratylus was Plato's first known intellectual influence. Aristotle states that Cratylus influenced Plato by introducing him to the teachings of Heraclitus.

Summary

The subject of Cratylus is on the correctness of names (περὶ ὀνομάτων ὀρθότητος). In other words, it is a critique on the subject of naming.

When discussing an ὄνομα (onoma) and how it would relate to its subject, Socrates compares the original creation of a word to the work of an artist. An artist uses color to express the essence of his subject in a painting. In much the same way, the creator of words uses letters containing certain sounds to express the essence of a word's subject. There is a letter that is best for soft things, one for liquid things, and so on. He comments:

The best possible way to speak consists in using names all (or most) of which are like the things they name (that is, are appropriate to them), while the worst is to use the opposite kind of names.

One countering position, held by Hermogenes, is that names have come about due to custom and convention. They do not express the essence of their subject, so they can be swapped with something unrelated by the individuals or communities who use them.

The line between the two perspectives is often blurred. During more than half of the dialogue, Socrates makes guesses at Hermogenes's request as to where names and words have come from. These include the names of the Olympian gods, personified deities, and many words that describe abstract concepts. He examines whether, for example, giving names of "streams" to Cronus and Rhea (Ροή – 'flow' or 'space') are purely accidental.

Don't you think he who gave to the ancestors of the other gods the names "Rhea" and "Cronus" had the same thought as Heracleitus? Do you think he gave both of them the names of streams (ῥευμάτων ὀνόματα) merely by chance?

The Greek term "ῥεῦμα" may refer to the flow of any medium and is not restricted to the flow of water or liquids. Many of the words which Socrates uses as examples may have come from an idea originally linked to the name, but have changed over time. Those of which he cannot find a link, he often assumes have come from foreign origins or have changed so much as to lose all resemblance to the original word. He states, "names have been so twisted in all manner of ways, that I should not be surprised if the old language when compared with that now in use would appear to us to be a barbarous tongue."

The final theory of relations between name and object named is posited by Cratylus, a disciple of Heraclitus, who believes that names arrive from divine origins, making them necessarily correct. Socrates rebukes this theory by reminding Cratylus of the imperfection of certain names in capturing the objects they seek to signify. From this point, Socrates ultimately rejects the study of language, believing it to be philosophically inferior to a study of things themselves.

Name of Hades

An extended section of Cratylus is devoted to the origin of the name of Hades. This etymology, through the lens of modern comparative linguistics, is unknown, but has carried a folk etymology since antiquity as meaning "The Unseen One". Modern linguists have proposed a Proto-Greek form of *Awides, literally 'unseen'. The earliest attested form is Aḯdēs (Ἀΐδης), which lacks the proposed digamma. In Cratylus, Socrates jocularly argues for a folk etymology not from 'unseen' but from 'his knowledge (eidenai) of all noble things".

Hades's name in classical Greek

The /w/ sound was lost at various times in various dialects, mostly before the classical period.