κινέω + δέος

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No

Last modification

Thu, 08/05/2021 - 14:03

Word-form

κίνδυνος

Transliteration (Word)

kindunos

English translation (word)

danger

Transliteration (Etymon)

kineō + deos

English translation (etymon)

to move sth. + fear

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 514

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848

Quotation

Κίνδυνος: Κινόδυνός τις ὢν, παρὰ τὸ κινεῖν εἰς ὀδύνην ἢ εἰς δέος. Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὰ εἰς ΥΝ λήγοντα προσθέσει τοῦ ΟΣ κλίνεται· οἷον, Φόρκυν, Φόρκυνος· ἡ γὰρ Φόρκυν αἰτιατικὴ, οἷον, ‘Φόρκυν θ’ Ἱππόθοόν τε’, ἀπὸ τοῦ Φόρκυς Φόρκυος ἐστὶ τὸν Φόρκυν, ὡς βότρυος, τὸν βότρυν. Κίνδυν, κίνδυνος· καὶ μετάγεται ἡ γενικὴ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ γίνεται ὁ κίνδυνος τοῦ κινδύνου, ὥσπερ ὁ ψὰρ τοῦ ψαρὸς, καὶ ὁ ψάρος τοῦ ψάρου

Translation (En)

Kindunos "danger:, a *kinodunos, as it were, from "to move" (kineîn) toward pain (odunēn) or toward fear (deos). You must know that words ending in -un inflect with the ending -os, as Phorkus, Phorkunos. The form Phorkun is an accusative, as in ‘Phorkun and Hippothoon’ (Il. 17.318): Phorkun belongs to Phorkus, Phorkuos, as botrun ‘grape’ to <botrus>, botruos. <So> *kindun, kindunos, and by change of the genitive into a nominative, one obtains ho kindunos, tou kindunou, as ho psar, tou psaros "starling" and ho psaros, tou psarou.

Comment

Compositional etymology relying on the assumption that the thematic nominative κίνδυνος is in fact an older athematic genitive, turned into a nominative. This was a device used by Greek scholars to account for the fact that some nouns inflect either according to the thematic type (λόγος) or to the athematic type (φλέψ), an instance of word having both inflections being provided in ψάρ, ψαρός "starling" next to ψᾶρος, ψάρου "idem". The ending -ος was common to both types and was taken as the pivot allowing the change from one type to the other (notice this echoes the modern assumption that many athematic nouns became thematic through a pivot form which for modern linguistics is the genitive plural, common to both types; in the Greek conception the pivot involves two different case forms, genitive and nominative, but that was not considered an objection). Applied to κίνδυνος, that means the older type is assumed to have been *κίνδυς, *κίνδυος, with *κίνδυν the accusative. And *κίνδυς was parsed as a compound of κινέω + δέος, "moving toward fear".

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Yes

Entry By

Le Feuvre