ζα- + χράω1
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Reference
Edition
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
ζαχρειής· χρῶ ἐστι ῥῆμα, τὸ πλησιάζω, {παρὰ τὸν χρῶτα}, οὗ παράγωγον χραύω, ὡς <ψῶ> ψαύω, οἷον ‘χραύσῃ μέν τ’ αὐλῆς ὑπεράλμενον’ (Ε 138). ἔστιν οὖν χρῶ καὶ χρὴς ὄνομα ῥηματικόν, καὶ κατὰ πλεονασμὸν τοῦ ε μετὰ τοῦ ζα ἐπιτατικοῦ μορίου γίνεται ζαχρεής· καὶ ζαχρειὴς κατὰ πλεονασμὸν τοῦ ι, ὡς ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφειός. οὕτω Φιλόξενος ἐν τῷ Περὶ μονοσυλλάβων
Translation (En)
zakhreiēs "raging": there is a verb *khrô "to come near, to touch" {from khrōs "skin"}, its derivative is khrauō, as <psô> psauō "to touch", for instance ‘he would attack, having lept over the fence’ (Il. 5.138). So, there is khrô, and as a deverbal noun *khrēs, and through the addition of [e], with the intensive prefix za-, one obtains *zakhreēs, and zakhreiēs by addition of [I], as in adelphos adelpheios "brother". This is what Philoxenus says in the Peri monosyllabōn.
Parallels
Herodian, Peri orthographias, Lentz III/2, p. 514 (ζαχρηής μεγάλως ἐπικείμενος «ζαχρηῶν ἀνέμων» (Ε 525), τὸ δὲ ζαχρειής πάνυ χρειώδης); A Schol. Il. 13.684 (ζαχρηεῖς: λίαν ἐπιβαροῦντες, παρὰ τὸ χραύειν); Geneva scholion Il. 13.684 (idem) Hesychius, Lexicon, zeta 82 (ζαχρειῶν· ἰσχυρῶν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις. *⸤ἰσχυρῶς πνεόντων. μεγάλως ἐμπελαζόντων Ε 525); Etym. Gudianum, zeta, p. 580 (Ζαχρειής· παρὰ τὸ χρῶ, τὸ πλησιάζω, χραύω, ὡς ψῶ ψαύω, <Ε 138> „χραύσῃ μέν τ’ αὐλῆς ὑπεράλμενον“· ὄνομα χρής καὶ ζαχρεής καὶ ζαχρειής); Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, p. 580 (Ζαχρειῶν <Ε 525>· σφοδρῶς πνεόντων. καὶ ζάχρειον τὸ σφοδρόν [the etymology is not explicit but the meaning given implies that this was the etymology]); ibid., p. 580 (Ζαχρήεις· ζαχρήεντος· ὁ βίαιος καὶ σφοδρός); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 2, 142 Van der Valk (Ὥσπερ δὲ ζάλη ἡ μεγάλη ἄελλα, οὕτω καὶ ζαχρειεῖς ἄνεμοι οἱ ἄγαν χρειώδεις, πάντες γὰρ ἡμῖν χρήσιμοι. καὶ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ γράφεται ἡ παραλήγουσα διὰ διφθόγγου, ἔχουσα ἢ τὸ ε καὶ ι ἢ τὸ η μετὰ τοῦ ι. ἐὰν δέ γε διὰ μόνου τοῦ η γράφηται, λέγοι ἂν ζαχρηεῖς τοὺς ἄγαν βαρεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ χράω, τὸ ἐπιπίπτω, ὡς τὸ «μητέρι μοι μνηστῆρες ἐπέχραον», καὶ παρὰ Ἡροδότῳ «ἐνέχραεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον τὸ σκῆπτρον». Ὅθεν καὶ ζαχρηεῖς ἴσως ἄνεμοι οἱ ἄγαν ἐπιπίπτοντες, οἳ καὶ δύνανται μάλιστα σκεδάσαι νέφη, ὧν καὶ αἱ πνοαὶ λιγυραὶ διὰ τὸ μετὰ ψόφου ποιοῦ τινος πνέειν. οὗ πρὸς ὁμοιότητα καὶ μάστιξ λιγυρά, ἡ ἐν ἀέρι ψοφοῦσα. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀνέμων ἐπίθετον τὸ ζαχρηές, ἀλλ’ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς καὶ ἐπὶ στρατιωτῶν ἡ λέξις εὑρεθήσεται); ibid., 2, 474 (Τὸ δὲ «ἐπιβρίσει πόλεμος Τρώων» ζαχρῃεῖς ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ τοὺς Τρῶας εἶναι βούλεται. τοιοῦτον γάρ τι ποιητικῶς οἱ ζαχρηεῖς, δηλοῦντες τοὺς ἄγαν βαρεῖς, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπιθετικῶς βρίθοντας); ibid., 3, 406–407 (ἀκολούθως δὲ τῷ ἐπέβρισαν ἐρρέθη καὶ τὸ ζαχρηεῖς. σημαίνει γὰρ, ὡς καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δηλοῦται, τοὺς βαρεῖς καὶ ἐμβριθεῖς καὶ οὐ φορητοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄγαν χράειν, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπιπίπτειν, κατὰ τὸ «μητέρι μοι μνηστῆρες ἐπέχραον»); ibid., 3, 536 (Λέγει δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐκεῖ μάλιστα ζαχρηεῖς ἐγίνοντο, τουτέστι χρειώδεις ἢ μᾶλλον ἄγαν βαρεῖς, ὡς καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ἐρρέθη, αὐτοί τε καὶ ἵπποι, διά τε τὴν τοῦ τείχους χθαμαλότητα καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀντιφιλοτιμεῖσθαι, ὡς εἰκός, πρὸς τοὺς Αἴαντας); ibid., 3, 859 (Ζαχρηεῖς οὖν ἐνταῦθα οἱ Δαναοί, ὡς ἀλλαχοῦ οἱ Λύκιοι, διὰ τὸ χράειν, ἐξ οὗ ὁ ζαχρηής); ibid., 4, 521 (Τὸ δὲ «ἔχραε» ἀρχή ἐστι καὶ αὐτὸ τῆς συνθέσεως τοῦ ζαχρηοῦς, ὡς καὶ προηρμήνευται. καὶ τοιοῦτον μὲν τὸ λεχθὲν ῥητόν); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 82 Stallbaum (Τὸ δὲ ἐπέχραον, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐν χρῶ ἐγένοντο. ἐπέπεσον. ἐβάρυναν. ἐκ τούτου δὲ καὶ τὸ χραῦσαι πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ. ἤδη δὲ καὶ ὁ ζαχρῃής. ἐκ τούτου καὶ παρ’ Ἡροδότῳ καὶ τὸ, ἐνέχραεν ἐς τὸ πρόσωπον τὸ σκῆπτρον, ἤγουν ἔπληξε τῷ σκήπτρῳ); ibid., 2, 333 (Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὸ, ἐν δ’ ἔπεσον, ταυτόν ἐστι τῷ ἐπέπεσον ὡς οἷα μετά τινος βάρους. ὅθεν καὶ ζαχρηεῖς πολεμισταὶ οἱ ἄγαν βαρεῖς ἐπιπίπτοντες); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 408 (Ζαχρειής: Ζαχρειὲς ἐστὶ κυρίως τὸ βιαίως ταῖς χερσὶ πραττόμενον· παρὰ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας πεποίηται ἡ λέξις ζαχερὴς, καὶ ὑπερθέσει, ζαχρεὴς καὶ ζαχρειής. Ἢ, ὡς λέγει Ὦρος, ἔστι ῥῆμα χρῶ, τὸ πλησιάζω, παρὰ τὸν χρῶτα· παράγωγον χραύω, ὡς ψαύω· ὄνομα ῥηματικὸν, χρής· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ε, μετὰ τοῦ ΖΑ, γίνεται ζαχρεής· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι. Σημαίνει τὸν ἄγαν χρειώδη, ἢ τὸν σφοδρόν· καὶ ζαχρειῶν ἀνέμων, ἰσχυρῶν, εὐχρήστων, ἐξαπιναίων, ἢ μεγάλως πνεόντων [the second part from the Etym. Genuinum]); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, zeta, p. 951 (Ζαχρειές. ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄγαν χρειῶδες. κυρίως τὸ βιαίως ταῖς χερσὶ πραττόμενον. [παρὰ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας πεποίηται ἡ λέξις, ζαχερὲς, καὶ ἐν ὑπερθέσει ζαχρεὲς, καὶ ζαχρειὲς, καὶ ζαχρειὴς ἐπὶ ἀρσενικοῦ, καὶ ζαχρήεις, ζαχρήεντος])
Bibliography
On the meanings and etymology of ζαχρηής, see C. Le Feuvre, « Epic ζαχρηής: a reexamination ». Glotta 93, 2017, pp. 48–78. The adjective is etymologically a compound of *χρῆος "need" (Hom. χρεῖος) and needs "very useful", not, as found in all the literature, "violent". But it was reinterpreted in lines where it applied to warriors as meaning "strong, violent", because warriors are useful when they are strong. Greek scholars tried to account for these two meanings by two different etymologies.
Comment
The word is parsed as a compound of the verb "to attack, to fall upon", with intensive ζα- (an Aeolic form of δια-). Philoxenus's starting point is the spelling ζαχρειής, which he probably contrasted with the spelling ζαχρηής to which he presumably assigned a different meaning and a different etymology, explicit in other sources. This explanation implies two insertions, the [e] first and the [I] then. Explaining an adjective meaning "raging" by a verb meaning "to attack" makes no problem.
The problem of spelling was a vexed one in Antiquity, some grammarians having only one spelling, others distinguishing ζαχρειής and ζαχρηής, and in the latter case some assuming ζαχρηής meant "violent" whereas ζαχρειής meant "useful", and others that it was the other way round. There was also a variant ζαχρηείς, allegedly inflected ζαχρηέντος.