ζα- + χείρ
Word
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
Ζαχρειής· κυρίως ζαχρειές ἐστι τὸ βιαίως ταῖς χερσὶ πραττόμενον· παρὰ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας πεποίηται ἡ λέξις
Translation (En)
Zakhreiēs "raging": the proper meaning is that which is strongly done by the hands. Because the word was created from kheiras "hands"
Parallels
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]); Scholia in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica (vetera), p. 104 (ad Arg. 1.1159) (ζαχρηέσιν αὔραις: μεγάλως ἐπιβαρούσαις καὶ πνεούσαις. κυρίως δὲ ζαχρηὲς τὸ βιαίως ταῖς χερσὶ πραττόμενον· παρὰ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας πεποίηται ἡ λέξις καὶ τὸ ζα ἐπιτατικόν)
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
Compositional etymology where the second element is identified as χείρ, which implies a metathesis -χειρ- > -χρει- (that is, the assumed spelling is ζαχρειής). The word is understood as meaning "violent" (βιαίως), that is, this is an alternative etymology to the etymology ζαχρηής / ζα- + χράω1 for the same word with the same meaning.