‘Οὐδ᾽ οἱ γονεῖς ᾐδοῦντο τὰς θυγατέρας οὕτω καλοῦντες’ (Luc., Musc. Enc., 11): a note about the fortune of the name-nickname ‘Myia’ (‘Fly’) = ‘Οὐδ᾽ οἱ γονεῖς ᾐδοῦντο τὰς θυγατέρας οὕτω καλοῦντες’ (Luc., Musc. Enc., 11): nota sulla fortuna del nome-soprannome 'mosca'

The personal name ‘Μυῖα’ (‘Myia’, ‘Fly’) seems to be quite documented in ancient Greek literary texts, both as a proper name and as a nickname. This study aims to explore the personalities, proposed by the text tradition, carrying such a name, investigating their role and/or career; then the attribution of such a nickname to the Boeotian poet Corinna is examined, within the tradition of the names of the female poets. On the basis of this preliminary investigation, a hypothesis about the connotation of the name is proposed: after the analysis of the occurrences of the insect in literature, the name might reveal a slight musical attitude. An appendix gives reason for other characteristics of the fly in ancient Greek texts, and also proposes some suggestions of the musical trait of the fly in modern poetry.