πάντῃ + φάος + ἄγω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
παιφάσσω
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
paiphassō
English translation (word)
dart, rush about
Transliteration (Etymon)
pantē + phaos + agō
English translation (etymon)
on every side + light
Century
1 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Lexicon homericum p. 126
Ed.
I. Bekker, Apollonii Sophistae lexicon Homericum, Berlin, 1833
Quotation
παιφάσσειν [...] ἔνιοι δὲ παρετυμολογοῦσι παιφάσσουσα πάντῃ τὰ φάη περιάγουσα, ὅ ἐστι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.
Translation (En)
paiphassein "to dart, rush about" : some gloss through etymology paiphassousa "rushing about" as "leading round on every side the eyes", that is to say the eyes.
Parallels
Orion, Etymologicum, omicron, p. 113 (Παιφάσκειν. παρὰ τὸ πάντα τὰ φάη περιάγειν)
Modern etymology
Reduplicated intensive verb, but the meaning is uncertain and so is the etymology. See Beekes, EDG
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Arthur de Tocqueville
Comment
This is an example of a triple etymon. The first two, πάντῃ and φάος, are found in other etymologies of the same word. The third one seems to be ἄγω "to lead", found in the gloss as περιάγουσα with the reverb περι-. The future of ἄγω is ἄξω, and verbs in -σσω also have -ξω in the future (φυλάσσω, future φυλάξω). Therefore, -αξω is used as an intermediate step between -ασσω and -αγω, but this is not explicit in the extant formulation. This use of the future in etymological derivations is not uncommon. As in other explanations, φάος, in the plural, is understood as "the eyes" (φάεα καλά Od. 16.15)