Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon

A.song which went round crookedly at banquets, being sung to the lyre by the guests one after another in irregular order, the singer holding a myrtlebranch (μυρρίνη) passed to him by the previous singer, “ᾆσον δή μοι ς. τι λαβὼν Ἀλκαίον κἀνακρέοντος” Ar.Fr.223, cf. Arist.Pol.1285a38, Ath.15.694a; the word first in Pi.Fr.122.11 (cf. Aristox.Fr.Hist.66, Ath.13.573f); examples in B.Scol.Oxy.1361, Bergk PLGiiipp.643 sqq., cf. Ar.Ach.532, Ra.1302, V.1222, Pl.Grg.451e (cf. Sch. ad loc.); τὰ Ἀττικὰ ἐκεῖνα ς. Ath.15.693f. (The name was variously expld.: (a) from σκολιός crooked, because of the crooked order of the singers, the bad singers being passed over, or the couches being crookedly arranged, Dicaearch.Hist.43, Aristox.Fr.Hist.59, Plu.2.615c, Sch. Pl.l.c. (b) later, the omission of the bad singers being ascribed to the difficulty or non-social character of the songs (cf. Plu.2.615b), σκόλιον was derived from δύσκολον or δυσκολία, Hsch., Sch.Ar.V. 1217; or it was said that the songs were easy, but appeared difficult to drunken revellers, Procl. in Phot.Bibl.p.321 B.; or were called difficult κατ᾽ ἀντίφρασιν, Procl. l.c., Suid.）