Etymology

Originally a feminine adjective with the meaning "Dorian" (cf. Theoc. 2.156: τὰν Δωρίδα ... ὄλπαν, "Dorian olpe"). Used to denote a knife, it has become substantivised, as indicated by its use in Euripides (ὁ δ᾽ εὐκρότητον Δωρίδ᾽ ἁρπάσας χεροῖν, 'and he having grasped in his hands the well-forged Dorian ... ", Eu. El. 819). Morphologically the word was formed with the suffix -id-, used for the derivation of adjectives (Chantraine 1933: 339).

Testimonies

In the literature of the classical period, the word appears only in Euripides' Electra (E. El. 819), and the context of its occurrence suggests that it was the name of a Doric (or at least considered to be such) variety of massive knife, called a kopida (Δωρικὴ [scil. κοπίς], E. El. 836; → κοπίς ➚).

In later literature we also encounter the noun δορίς, ίδος, denoting a knife: in the comedian Anaxippos (6.3) it appears in the context of other cooking utensils, including the kopid, while in Callimachus' Aites it occurs in an explicitly sacrificial context (οἱ βόες ὀξεῖαν δερκόμενοι δορίδα, Call. fr. 75.11). Given the low frequency of occurrences of this word, it seems that Callimachus substitutes it in place of a trivial machaira (→ μάχαιρα ➚), or as part of an erudite display (two lines earlier the same knife was referred to by the equally rare, probably aeolian word μαῦλις: Call. Fr. 75.9; cf. Harder 2012: 591), or for the purpose of gaining voicing instrumentation (δερκόμενοι δορίδα), and most likely for both purposes simultaneously. That we are dealing with a rare word is supported by the fact that although the Onomasticon of Pollux (2nd century AD) lists δορίδες as part of the cook's equipment in one row with the copida and the machaires (Poll. 6.89, cf. 10. 104: κοπίδες καὶ δορίδες καὶ μαχαιρίδες), then already in the Attika onomata of Pollux's contemporary the grammarian and lexicographer Elias Dionysius δορίδες are explained as μαγειρικαὶ τράπεζαι, cook tops (Ael.Dion, s.v.).