ἀπο-λαύω

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Word-form

λαιμός

Transliteration (Word)

laimos

English translation (word)

throat

Transliteration (Etymon)

apo-lauō

English translation (etymon)

to take advantage of

Author

Heraclides Ponticus the Younger

Century

1 AD

Source

Orion

Ref.

Etymologicum, lambda, p. 93

Ed.

F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, Weigel, 1820

Quotation

Λαιμός. παρὰ τὸ λάειν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀπολαύειν. οὕτως Ἡρακλείδης. ὁ δὲ Σωρανὸς λέγει λημᾶν λέγεσθαι τὸ ἀπολαυστικῶς βλέπειν.

Translation (En)

Laimos "throat": from *laein, which means "to take advantage of". This is what Heraclides says. And Soranus says that laimân means "to look at with profit"

Comment

Derivational etymology. The starting point is a verb *λάω, allegedly the etymon of ἀπο-λαύω "to take advantage of". The idea is that the throat benefits from the food and enjoys it (although this is not true from the physiological point of view). The etymology is probably modelled after that of λαυκανίη "throat", an old epic word for "throat", which was derived from ἀπολαύω (probably already by Aristarchus, see Eustathius). Therefore, its synonym was logically derived from the same etymon. Starting from *λάειν and not from -λαύειν, the etymologist does not have to account for the loss of [u]. Apparently Soranus' etymology was identical: according to Orion, Soranus adds that there was a verb λαιμάω (spelled λημᾶν in Orion with the Late Greek pronunciation of αι) meaning "to look at with profit", which is nothing more than an attempt at relating λάω "to take advantage of" to λάω "to look" (synonym of βλέπω). Meletius (see Parallels) has ἀπολάβειν: this is not a different etymology but the result of the Byzantine pronunciation of -αυ- = [av], identical with -αβ- = [av], and ἀπολάβειν stands for ἀπολαύειν

Parallels

Orion, Etymologicum (excerpta e cod. regio 2610), p. 179 (Λαιμός· παρὰ τὸ λάειν ὅ ἐστιν ἀπόλαυσιν); Orion, Etymologicum (excerpta e cod. Vat. gr. 1456) 118 (Λαιμός· παρὰ τὸ λάειν ὅ ἐστιν ἀπολαύειν); Meletius, De natura hominis, p. 84 (λαιμὸς δὲ καὶ λάρυγξ τοῖς ὀνόμασι διαφέρουσι μόνον· παρὰ γὰρ τὸ λαίειν, ἢ λαύσειν, ὅ ἐστι τὸ ἀπολάβειν, ἀμφότερα παράγεται· διὰ γὰρ λαίμου καὶ λάρυγγος τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ἔσχομεν τῶν τροφῶν· λαιμᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἀπολαυστικῶς ἔχειν εἴρηται παρά τισιν); Theognostus, Canones sive De orthographia 343 (καὶ τοῦ λαιμὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ λαύω); Etym. Magnum, kallierges, p. 558 (Λαιμός: Παρὰ τὸ λίαν μᾶν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ λάπτω, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ κατὰ δίψης φλέγομαι. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ λάειν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀπολαύειν); ibid., p. 563 (λημῶ: […] Ἡρακλείδης δὲ ὁ Σωρανὸς λέγει λημᾶν λέγεσθαι τὸ ἀπολαυστικῶς βλέπειν, παρὰ τὸ λάειν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀπολαύειν. Καὶ Ὅμηρος, ‘Ἀσπαίροντα λάων’. Ἔνθεν καὶ λαιμός· ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων καὶ τῶν ποτῶν οὗτος ἀπολαύει); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 4, 624 Van der Valk (ὡς γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ λάω λαμός καὶ λαιμός, οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ λάω λαύω λαυκανία ὁ ἀπολαυστικός, φασί, τόπος); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 2, 200 Stallbaum (Τὸ δὲ λάων Ἀρίσταρχος μὲν ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀπολαύων, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ λαιμὸς καὶ λαυκανία καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἀπολαύειν πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ ὅθεν καὶ τὸ, λάε νεβρὸν ἄγχων, ἤγουν ἀπέλαυεν, ἐτρύφα)

The etymology is implicit in Photius, Epistulae 89 (ἵνα ὡς πλεῖστον χρόνον τῶν διὰ τοῦ λαιμοῦ ῥεόντων καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύῃ), and Arethas, Scripta minora, Op. 54, p. 334 (ὥστε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν καὶ τὸ ταύτης εὔδαιμον ἐν τῇ τοῦ λαιμοῦ τίθεσθαι ἀπολαύσει καὶ τῶν κατὰ σῶμα ἡδέων) = Scholia in Lucianum 21.47

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has λαιμός "throat, neck"

Entry By

Le Feuvre