ἀ- + ἡδύς
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἀηδών
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
aēdōn
English translation (word)
nightingale
Transliteration (Etymon)
a- + hēdus
English translation (etymon)
very + pleasant
Century
11 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 29
Ed.
E.L. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum, fasc. 1 & 2, Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1909; 2:1920
Quotation
Ἀηδών· διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ ᾄδειν ἐν θέρει καὶ ἐν χειμῶνι· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀείδω ἀηδών κατὰ διάλεκτον Αἰολέων· ἢ διὰ τὸ ἡδυτάτως λαλεῖν
Translation (En)
Aēdōn "nightingale": because it always sings, in summer as in winter. Or from aeidō "to sing", aēdōn in the Aeolic dialect. Or because it twitters most sweetly (hēdutatōs)
Parallels
Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 92 ( ἀηδών· παρὰ τὸ ἀείδω ἀειδών καὶ τροπῇ τῆς ει διφθόγγου εἰς η Αἰολικῶς ἀηδών. οὕτως Ὠρίων. ἄλλοι δὲ τροπῇ μόνον γεγονέναι τοῦ ε εἰς η λέγουσι καὶ μεῖναι προσγεγραμμένον τὸ ι. <ἕτεροι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἥδω, τὸ εὐφραίνω, καὶ τοῦ α κατ’ ἐπίτασιν ἡ κατὰ πολὺ ἥδουσα ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ λέγειν>)
Modern etymology
Belongs with ἀείδω "to sing", αὐδή "voice". PIE *h2wed-, pace Beekes
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has "αηδόνι" and also "αηδόνα", the last designating also a woman who sings beautifully.
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology not given explicitly: only a semantic equivalent ἡδυτάτως "very sweetly" is given, which implies an analysis of the word as a compound of ἡδύς and the intensive ἀ- (the etymology is explicit in the Etym. Symeonis). It is a descriptive etymology which refers not only to the song of the nightingale as the standard etymology but to one characteristic feature of this song, namely, that it is melodious