opsophagos

See also: oesophagus

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek, from ὄψον (ópson, “delicacies”) + φάγος (phágos, “glutton”); compare English opson, Latin obsonium.

Noun

opsophagos (plural opsophagoi)

1. (literary or historical) A glutton, a gourmand, chiefly one who hogs and eats excessive amounts of fish.
   • 1995, John Wilkins, David Harvey, Mike Dobson, Food in Antiquity, page 209:

     How does this help us with the opsophagoi listed by Athenaeus′ comic poets and anecdotalists and their feats of consumption?

   • 2000, David Braund, John Wilkins, Athenaeus and His World: Reading Greek Culture in the Roman Empire, page 267:

     Thus, at the precise moment during the banquet when Myrtilus points out what should be understood as an opsophagos, it is fish that are brought to Larensis′ table.

   • 2012, Dan Brayton, Shakespeare′s Ocean: An Ecocritical Exploration, footnote, unnumbered page,

     25. James Davidson (Courtesans and Fishcakes) describes something similar in classical Athenian culture, a cultural association between the fish desired by the opsophagos, or fisheater, and the bodies of prostitutes (male and female).