ὀψώνιον · opsōnion — LSJ
salary, reckoned in money, τό τε ὀ. καὶ σιτομετρίαν καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον PCair.Zen. 507.5, cf. 421.6, 483.14, 498.5 (all iii B. C.); ἵνα ἡμῖν ὀ. προστεθῇ καὶ σιτάριον ib. 49.4 (iii B. C.); μετρήματα καὶ ὀ. corn- and money-payments, UPZ 14.26 (ii B. C.); φυλακιτῶν PPetr. 3p.230 (iii B. C.); of a bank clerk, PCair.Zen. 342.6 (iii B. C.): distd. from γραμματικόν (bonus on turnover), PStrassb. 105.4 (iii B. C.); χωρὶς ὀψωνίων, of unsalaried services, Inscr.Prien. 121.34 (i B. C.).
a policemanʼs pay, PLille 25.55 (iii B. C.), PFay. 302 (ii B. C.), IG 9(2).1109.27 (Thess., ii/i B. C.); freq. a soldierʼs pay, PStrassb. 103.16 (iii B. C.), PTheb.Bank 6.7 (ii B. C.), Plb. 6.39.12: so in pl., pay of an army, Rev.Ét.Anc. 33.8 (Theangela, iv/iii B. C.), OGI 229.106 (iii B. C.), SIG 410.19 (iii B. C.), 581.34 (ii/i B. C.), Plb. 1.67.1, 3.25.4, LXX 1 Ma. 3.28, Aristeas 22.
allowance paid to a victorious athlete, PRyl. 153.25 (ii A. D.), CPHerm. 54.7, al. (iii A. D.); allowance or scholarship paid to a music-student, προδοῦναί μοι τὸ ὀ. καὶ τὸ κατὰ μῆνα ἀνάλωμα PCair.Zen. 440.6 (iii B. C.); allowance to a son or daughter, BGU 665 ii 15 (i A. D.), POxy. 898.31 (ii A. D.); to a slave, distd. from ἱματις μός, PCair.Zen. 28.6, 100.14 (iii B. C.).
wages of labour, τὰ σώματα ἐνοχλεῖ ἡμᾶς τὰ ὀ. ἀπαιτοῦντα ib. 43.2, cf. 27.2, al., PPetr. 2p.113 (all iii B. C.), POxy. 974 (iii A. D.); ἀρτάβην κριθῆς εἰς λόγον ὀψωνίων PTeb. 420.24 (iii A. D.): metaph., ὀψώνια ἁμαρτίας the wages of sin, Ep.Rom. 6.23.
a magicianʼs fee, PMag.Par. 1.2454.
gratuity to tax-farmers, UPZ 112v3 (pl.).
= ὄψον I.1 (cf. Lat. obsonium), τῶν ἀνηλωμάτων πάντων σίτου καὶ ὀψωνίων ib. 91.13 (ii B. C.).—The word is rejected by Phryn. 393. First used by Men. 1051 (no context); ᾔτησεν εἰς ὀ. τριώβολον Thugen. 2. Glossed ὀψωνία, also (in pl.) κέρδη, χαρίσματα, by Phot.