ὄπτω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ὀφρῦς
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ophrus
English translation (word)
brow
Transliteration (Etymon)
optō
English translation (etymon)
to see
Century
11 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum, omicron, p. 644
Ed.
F. Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum et alia grammaticorum scripta e codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum edita, Leipzig: Weigel, 1818
Quotation
οἱδὲ φασὶ παρὰ τὸ ὄπτω τὸ βλέπω, ὀπρῦς καὶ ὀφρῦς· τὸ ο μικρόν
Translation (En)
Others say that from optō "to see" is derived *oprus and ophrus "brow". The /o/ is short
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 644 (οἱ δὲ, παρὰ τὸ ὄπτω, ὦφα, ὀφῦς καὶ ὀφρῦς, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ)
Modern etymology
Inherited word for "brow", matching Ved. bhrū-, Engl. brow, Germ. Braue, OCS brъvь, isolated in Greek (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has φρύδι, from the old diminutive ὀφρύδιον
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology which in its principle is identical with Herodian's (see ὀφρύς / ὁράω) but starts from a ghost-form of the same verb, ὄπτω, meant to account for the future ὄψομαι, the perfect ὄπωπα and a few nominal derivatives (ὄψις, ὀπτός, ὤψ…). It requires a formal manipulation, a change of /p/ into /ph/, which is explicit. From the semantic point of view, it poses the same problem as Herodian's: a derivation from "to see" can provide the etymology of "eye", not of "brow". A different derivation path is used in the Etym. Magnum: from ὄπτω is derived an aspirate perfect ὦφα of the εἴληφα type, and then a /r/ is inserted. Eustathius preserves a compositional etymology with the same ὄπτω (see ὀφρύς / ὄπτω + ῥύομαι)