αἰανής
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
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Ed.
Quotation
Ἐπαινὴ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἡ αἰνή, ὡς ἐρρέθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ αἰανὴ διὰ τὸ ἐν σκότῳ εἶναι.
Translation (En)
Epainē means not only the frightening one (ainē), as I said, but also the funest one (aianē) because she lives in darkness.
Parallels
Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 389 Stallbaum (Ἔστι δὲ ἐπαινὴ Περσεφόνη, ἢ αἰανὴ, τουτέστιν ἐν σκότει διάγουσα, ἢ μᾶλλον αἰνὴ, ἡ δεινὴ, πλεοναζούσης καὶ νῦν προθέσεως ὡς καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις); ibid., 2, 219 (Αἰνὸν δὲ ὄνειρον ἢ τὸν σκοτεινὸν, ὡς καὶ ἐπαινὴ Περσεφόνεια ἡ αἰανὴ, ἢ τὸν αἰνιγματώδη παρὰ τὸ αἶνος, ὃς δηλοῖ ποτὲ καὶ τὸ αἴνιγμα, καθὰ πολλαχοῦ ἐφάνη); ibid., 2, 84 (πρὸς διάφορον δὲ σημασίαν βαρύνεται ὁ τοιοῦτος αἶνος, πρὸς διαστολὴν δηλονότι τοῦ κατ’ εὐθεῖαν ὀξυνομένου αἰνοῦ, ἀφ’ οὗ ἐπαινὴ Περσεφόνεια. γίνεται γὰρ ὁ μὲν εὐλογητικὸς αἶνος παρὰ τὸ ἰαίνειν ὡς οἷον ἴαινος, ὁ δὲ ῥηθεὶς συμβολικὸς παρὰ τὸ αἰνὸν, ὑποδύσκολος γάρ ἐστιν, ἢ καὶ παρὰ τὸ αἰανόν. σκοτεινὸς γὰρ λόγος ὁ τοιοῦτος αἶνος ἐστὶ καθὰ καὶ πᾶν αἴνιγμα).
Comment
Eustathius gives here a different etymology of Persephone's epithet, and refers it to αἰανός, variant of αἰανής "fatal, funest", which also means "eternal" (LSJ only gives the meaning "eternal", which is not correct, see DGE). This derivation implies a syncope of the internal [a]. Persephone is fatal because she is the goddess of the underworld and queen of the dead, but Eustathius selects a specific feature, the darkness of her realm, to account for this etymology.