ὑπέρ + ὅπλον
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
ὑπέροπλοι γὰρ οἱ ὑπερήφανοι λέγονται, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν τὴν ἰδίαν ὅπλοις μείζοσι χρῆσθαι.
Translation (En)
Are called huperoploi "insolent" the arrogant people, from the fact they use weapons (hoplois) bigger than their own strength (huper dunamin)
Parallels
Epimerismi homerici Il. 1.205 (ὑπεροπλίῃ⸤σι⸥: παρὰ τὸ ὅπλον, ὑπέροπλον, ὑπερόπλιος καὶ ὑπεροπλία. σημαίνει δὲ τὴν ὑπερη⸤φανίαν· | μεταφορικὴ δέ ἐστιν⸥ ἡ λέξις ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ ὅπλα φερόντων); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 110-111 Van der Valk (ὁπλῖται μέντοι μεθ’ Ὅμηρον ἀπὸ γενικοῦ ὀνόματος τῶν ὅπλων ἐκλήθησαν, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁπλότεροι οἱ νέοι καὶ ὑπέροπλοι οἱ αὐθάδεις); ibid., 1, 136 (Ὅτι ὥσπερ ἀγήνωρ ἔστιν οὗ κατὰ ψόγον ὁ ἄγαν τῇ ἠνορέῃ χρώμενος, οὕτω καὶ ὑπέροπλος ὁ διὰ θρασύτητα ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον ὅπλοις χρώμενος καὶ ὑπεροπλία ἡ τοιαύτη κακία· οἷον «ᾗς», ὅ ἐστιν ἰδίαις, «ὑπεροπλίαις τάχ’ ἄν ποτε θυμὸν ὀλέσσῃ»); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 779 (Ὑπεροπλία: Ἡ ὑπερηφανία· γίνεται ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπερόπλιος· μεταφορικὴ δέ ἐστιν ἡ λέξις, ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοὺς τὰ ὅπλα φερόντων. Καὶ ὑπέροπλον, τὸ ὑπερήφανον); Tzetzes, Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem 1.205 (ὑπέροπλος γὰρ λέγεται ὁ θρασὺς καὶ ὑπὲρ ὅπλα παρὰ τὸ λελογισμένον καὶ γυμνῷ τῷ σώματι θαρρῶν); Ps-Zonaras, Lexicon, upsilon, p. 1768 (Ὑπέροπλος. ὑπερήφανος. ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ ὅπλα φορούντων); Scholia in Pindarum, O. 1.90 (scholia recentiora) (Ἄταν ὑπέροπλον] ὑπέροπλός ἐστιν ἰσχὺς ἡ νικῶσα τὰ ὅπλα, ἤγουν πρὸς ἣν οὐ δύναται ἀντισχεῖν τὰ ὅπλα)
Bibliography
On the meaning of the compound, see C. Le Feuvre, Ὅμηρος δύσγνωστος. Réinterprétations de termes homériques à date archaïque et classique, Geneva, Droz 2015, pp. 371-377. ὑπέροπλος is a preposition-governing compound but -οπλος has nothing to do with ὅπλον "weapon" and must be connected with ὁπλή "hoof", the older meaning of which is "extremity". Therefore the ὑπέροπλος man is the one who behaves "over the limits".
Comment
Compositional etymology. Since ὑπέροπλος is found in the Iliad, in a military context, the semantic relationship with "weapons" was natural for Greek scholars. As the word is clearly pejorative in Homer and means "arrogant, insolent", the meaning is assumed to be "bearing arms above his capacity". Therefore the structure is that of a possessive compound, "having weapons ὑπέρ", as ἐπίχρυσος "having gold over", that is, "gilded". A different interpretation of the same etymology is found in the scholia to Pindar (see Parallels), where the compound is understood as "surpassing weapons", that is, "more powerful than weapons": in this interpretation, the compound is derived from a prepositional phrase ὑπὲρ ὅπλα, and it is a preposition-governing compound, which is the correct structure.