αἶνος
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἐπαινή
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ainos
English translation (word)
frightening
Transliteration (Etymon)
ainos
English translation (etymon)
tale, praise
Source
Idem
Ref.
D Scholia Il. 9.457
Ed.
H. van Thiel, Scholia D in Iliadem, online edition 2014
Quotation
Καὶ ἐπαινή. Ἐπίφοβος, δεινή. Αἰνὸν γὰρ, τὸ δεινόν. Ἢ, ἣν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐπαινέσειεν· Ἀντίφρασις, ὁ τρόπος. Ἢ, ὑπερβολικῶς, ἣν ἄν τις ἐπαινεῖν παραιτήσαιτο.
Translation (En)
And epainē "frightening, terrible". Because ainos means "terrible". Or the one whom no one would praise – this trope is an antiphrasis; or, by hyperbole, the one whom one could refuse to praise.
Parallels
Geneva scholion Il. 9.457 (ἐπαινὴ» δὲ ἡ δεινὴ καὶ αἰνὴ, ἢ κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν ἣν οὐδεὶς ἐπαινέσει); Scholia vetera in Hesiodum, Op. 643a (‘νῆ’ ὀλίγην αἰνεῖν’. αἰνεῖν δέ τινες ἀντὶ τοῦ παραιτεῖσθαι παρέλαβον, τοῦ ‘χαίρειν’ λέγειν ἢ παρέρχεσθαι ἢ οὐχ αἰνεῖν ὡς δεινήν, ὥσπερ (Hom. Ι 457) “ἐπαινὴ Περσεφόνεια”)
Modern etymology
Unknown (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Comment
The adjective is analyzed as derived from αἰνέω "to praise", assuming an antiphrasis. Αἰνή, ἐπαινή is the epithet of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, the one nobody praises. Since αἰνός "frightening" and αἶνος "praise" differ only by the position of the accent (and by the morphological category, but that was not a problem for Greek etymologists), they were naturally associated and grouped together in etymological works. This suggested the possibility that the one was the etymon of the other.