Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Paropsis

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

PAROP'SIS or PARAP'SIS (παροψίς). A term adopted from the Greeks, and used by them, as well as the Romans, much in the same sense as the word side-dish is with us; under which the dish itself is sometimes implied, at others the viands contained in it, while at others both the dish and its contents are included. The paropsis was employed for serving up the smaller and more exquisite portions of a meal, like a French entrée; and was made of earthenware, bronze, or the precious metals; but though the Latin passages in which the word occurs do not afford any express indication of the precise form of the vessel, we collect from Alciphron, that it was a deep bowl with a wide top, such as we conceive under the name of cup; for he designates the vessel used by thimble-riggers by the name paropsis, for which the more usual Latin name is ACETABULUM. The illustration introduced under that word may consequently be received also as affording a specimen of the paropsis. Charis. i. 82. Juv. iii. 142. Mart. xi. 27. Pet. Sat. 34. 2. Ulp. Dig. 32. 220. Alciphron. Epist. iii. 20.