βοάω

Validation

No

Last modification

Fri, 10/21/2022 - 14:55

Word-form

βοῦς

Transliteration (Word)

bous

English translation (word)

ox

Transliteration (Etymon)

boaō

English translation (etymon)

to shout

Author

Herodian

Century

2 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Παρεκβολαὶ τοῦ μεγάλου ῥήματος p. 6

Ed.

J. La Roche, Παρεκβολαὶ τοῦ μεγάλου ῥήματος ἐκ τῶν Ἡρωδιανοῦ [Programm Akad. Gymn. Vienna. 1863]

Quotation

πάντα τὰ τῆς τρίτης συζυγίας τῶν περισπωμένων ῥήματα τῷ ω παραλήγεται κατὰ τὸν μέλλοντα, χωρὶς τοῦ ὀμῶ ὀμόσω, ἀρῶ ἀρόσω, βοόω βοόσω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ βοῦς.

Translation (En)

All the perispomena of the third conjugation lengthen the penultimate in the future except omô "I swear", omosō, arô "I plough" arosō, booō "I shout" boosō, from which is derived also bous "ox"

Comment

Derivational etymology: the ox is the "shouting" animal. The etymology owes a lot to the homophony between the genitive plural βοῶν "of the oxen" and the participle βοῶν "shouting", which is very often mentioned in grammatical works. The verb βοόω means "to turn into an ox/a cow", but clearly "ox" is not supposed to be derived from "to turn into an ox". It is likely that this βοόω of the third conjugation refers in fact to the epic forms of βοάω with diectasis. The latter is not attested in the future in the Homeric corpus as we know it and it is unclear where the indication that this verb does not have the regular lengthening in the future comes from

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

Most scholars assume that *gwow- "cow, ox", known from all IE languages, is in fact derived from *gweh3- "to feed", root found in βόσκω, βόσις (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Βου- survives only in compounds in the learned language, The word has been replaced by the old diminutive βοΐδιον > Mo. Gr. βόδι

Entry By

Le Feuvre