πέτομαι + ἄνω2
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
πετεηνόν
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
peteēnos
English translation (word)
winged animal
Transliteration (Etymon)
petomai + anō2
English translation (etymon)
to fly + upwards
Century
12 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Scholia in Hesiodum, Op. 275
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Poetae minores Graeci [Scholia ad Hesiodum], vol. 2, Leipzig: Kühn, 1823
Quotation
Πετεινόν, παρὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ πέτεσθαι τείνειν τὸ πτερόν· πετεηνόν δὲ, παρὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ πέτεσθαι ἄνω, οἱονεὶ τὸ ὑψιπετές· ὅθεν τὸ μὲν δίφθογγος, τὸ δὲ ἦτα γραφεῖται
Translation (En)
Peteinon "winged", from the fact that it stretches (teinein) its wings (pteron) while flying; but peteēnon "winged" from the fact that it flies (petesthai) upwards (anō), as in hupsipetēs "flying high". This is why the former is spelled with a diphthong and the latter with eta.
Parallels
Scholia et glossae in Sophoclis Ajacem 140c (recentiora) (πτηνὸν λέγεται τὸ εἰς ὕψος πετόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ πέτεσθαι ἄνω ὥσπερ τὸ πετεινὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῷ πέτεσθαι τείνειν τὸ πτερόν)
Modern etymology
Derivative of πέτομαι "to fly", from PIE *peth2-. Belongs with ποτάομαι "to fly", πτερόν "wing", πτηνός "winged", ὑψιπετής "high-flying" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has πετεινός "rooster", πετεινάρι "cockerel", but the Homeric form is not preserved
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology meant to account for the Homeric variant πετεηνόν. The word is parsed as a compound Verb + Adverb, although all Greek compounds consisting of a verb and an adverb have the adverb in first position, starting from the ὑψιπετής which Tzetzes provides as a synonym. The two variants, poetic πετεηνόν and regular πετεινόν, are justified by two different etymologies.