αἰνός
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἐπαινή
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
epainos
English translation (word)
awesome
Transliteration (Etymon)
ainos
English translation (etymon)
frightening
Century
12 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Comm. Il. 2, 760
Ed.
M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, Leiden, 1971-1987
Quotation
Ἐν δὲ τῷ «ἐπαράς» πλεονάζει ἡ πρόθεσις, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐπιβουκόλος καὶ ἐπίουρος. καὶ μετ’ ὀλίγα εὐθὺς ἐπαινὴ Περσεφόνεια ἡ αἰνή, τουτέστι δεινή.
Translation (En)
In eparas "prayers", the prefix is added, as in epiboukolos "oxherd" and epiouros "guardian" and a few words afterwards epainē Persephoneia "awesome Persephone", the frightening one (ainē), that is, terrible.
Modern etymology
The form ἐπαινή arose from an erroneous segmentation of a sequence ἐπ᾽ αἰνή in Homer (Leumann, Homerische Wörter 1950, p. 72)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This explanation of ἐπαινή (only feminine, as an epithet to Persephone), is of course older than Eustathius but is not explicit before. See also αἰνός / αἶνος, αἰνός / αἰανής.