τραχύς

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No

Last modification

Mon, 10/31/2022 - 22:00

Word-form

ῥάχις

Transliteration (Word)

rhakhis

English translation (word)

spine

Transliteration (Etymon)

trakhus

English translation (etymon)

rough

Author

Orion?

Century

5 AD

Source

Meletius

Ref.

De natura hominis p. 91

Ed.

J. A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, vol. 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1835 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1963)

Quotation

Ἡ δὲ ῥάχις ῥῆξις τίς ἐστι, τὰ δεξιὰ τῶν εὐωνύμων διαχωρίζουσα· ἢ διὰ τραχύτητα τῶν συνεστηκότων αὐτῇ κονδύλων· οἷον, τράχις καὶ ῥάχις· 

Translation (En)

The spine (rhakhis) is a breaking (rhēxis), which divides the left part from the right one. Or because of the roughness (trakhutēta) of the ribs composing it, like *trakhis and rhakhis

Comment

Derivational etymology relying in the fact that, because of iotacism, the υ of τραχύς and the ι of ῥάχις are pronounced [I]. Therefore the loss of the initial [t] is deemed sufficient to build a plausible descriptive etymology. The etymology is reversible (see τραχύς / ῥάχις). The presence of this etymology in Meletius, whose source was Orion, and in the Byzantine Etymologica, make it likely that it was in Orion, although none of the extant versions of the Etymologicum preserves it.

Parallels

Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 58 (ἡ δὲ ῥάχις ῥῆξίς τίς ἐστι, τὰ δεξιὰ τῶν εὐωνύμων διαχωρίζουσα ἢ διὰ τὴν τραχύτητα, οἷον τράχις καὶ ῥάχις); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 702 (Ῥάχις: Ὡς μὲν Ἀπολλόδωρος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥῆξις εἶναι, καὶ τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη διακρίνειν ἀπὸ τῶν εὐωνύμων· ὡς δέ τινες, τράχις, διὰ τὴν τραχύτητα τῶν συνεστηκότων αὐτῇ κονδύλων· […] ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ προσράσσειν πάντα τὰ πλευρά); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, rho, p. 1605 (idem, up to κονδύλων)

Modern etymology

Unclear (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG has ράχη, with the derivative ραχιαίος, ραχιτικός, ραχίτιδα

Entry By

Le Feuvre