εἴρω2
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
δέρη· Ὅπερ καὶ δειρὰ καλεῖται· καὶ ἐκ τούτου δειροτομῆσαι. Κυρίως δὲ δέρη καὶ δειρὰ καλεῖται ἐπὶ τῶν τετραπόδων, ὁ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων τράχηλος, διὰ τὸ ἐντεῦθεν ἐκδέρεσθαι· καταχρηστικῶς δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπων. Ἔστι δὲ παράγωγον παρὰ τὸ δέρω, δέρα, καὶ δέρη Ἰωνικῶς, καὶ δειρή· ἢ κατὰ πλεονασμὸν τοῦ δ, εἰρά τις οὖσα, παρὰ τὸ εἴρειν, τὸ λέγειν, ἡ φωνητική· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ῥέειν τὴν ἐδωδήν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ τὰ χορηγούμενα δεῖν, ἤγουν δεσμεῖν.
Translation (En)
Derē "throat" also called deira, from which comes deirotomēsai ‘to cut the throat’. Properly called derē and deira when it applies to animals, it refers to the neck of animals, because they are skinned starting from there; and by extension also for humans. It is a derivative of derō, dera, and derē in Ionic, and deirē; or it is, through adjunction of the [d], a *eira, as it were, from eirein ‘to speak’, the speaking one; or from the fact that food flows through it; or from the fact that it binds together the food supply.
Parallels
There is no parallel.
Comment
Derivational etymology giving as etymon a verb meaning "to speak". It requires the adjunction of a consonant at the beginning of the word. Notice this etymon better fitted for the Ionic form δειρή than for the Attic one δέρη which has no diphthong. But since the two words were acknowledged as two dialectal forms of one and the same word, the etymologist does not distinguish. From the semantic point of view, the two etymologies are distinct: the competing etymology by δέρω "to skin" applies properly to animals' skin, and that the use for human beings is secondary, whereas he etymology by εἴρω "to speak" applies to human throat, and implies that the proper use is for human beings, and the use for animals is secondary.