χέω + ῥέζω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
χείρ
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
kheir
English translation (word)
hand
Transliteration (Etymon)
kheō + rhezō
English translation (etymon)
to pour + to make
Source
Idem
Ref.
Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 66
Ed.
A. Ludwich, Die Homerische Batrachomachia des Karers Pigres: nebst Scholien und Paraphrase, Leipzig, 1896
Quotation
χείρ ἐτυμολογεῖται ἀπὸ τοῦ χέεσθαι καὶ διήκειν ῥᾷον καὶ εὐκόλως εἰς ὅλα τὰ μέρη τοῦ σώματος· πανταχοῦ γὰρ καὶ εἰς ὅλα τὰ μέρη διήκει ἡ χείρ. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ χέεσθαι εἰς τὸ ῥέζειν ἤγουν πράττειν. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ εἴρω τὸ πλέκω εἴρ καὶ χείρ, ἡ συμπεπλεγμένη ὑπὸ τῶν δακτύλων.
Translation (En)
Kheir "hand" is etymologized from kheesthai "to pour", as it reaches very easily and without effort all the parts of the body. Because the hand reaches all the body parts everywhere. Or from the fact it pours (kheesthai) to do (rhezein) something, that is, to be active. Or from eirō "to intertwine", *eir and kheir, the one attached below the fingers.
Parallels
There is no parallel.
Modern etymology
Old name of the hand, cognate with Ved. hasta- "hand" and Hitt. kesar "id.". PIE *ghes-r- (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has χείρα as a learned word, including in compounds; the usual form is χέρι
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology parsing the word as a compound of χέω, as in the competing etymology χέω + ῥᾴδιος, and explaining the final [r] as the initial consonant of ῥέζω "to make". The hand is "moving to do something".