εὖ + ἔχω
Word
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Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
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Ed.
Quotation
Εὐχή. ἡ τοῦ εὖ ἔχειν αἴτησις
Translation (En)
Eukhē "prayer" is asking for well being (eu ekhein)
Parallels
Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 103 (τὸ δὲ εὐχὴ παρὰ τὸ εὖ ἔχειν ἡ τοῦ εὖ ἔχειν αἴτησις, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔχεσθαι τὸ ἀκολουθεῖν "εὐχή is from εὖ ἔχειν, it is asking for all being, or from ἔχεσθαι «to follow»" [that is, εὖ ἔχεσθαι "to follow well"]); Etym. Gudianum, epsilon, p. 567 (Εὐχή· διὰ τὸ εὖ ἔχειν ἤγουν καλόν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 400 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 4, 647 Van der Valk (τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁρισμός ἐστιν οἷον εὐχῆς ἵνα εἴη εὐχὴ θεοῦ δεξίωσις ὑπ’ ἀνθρώπων, ὅθεν ἴσως καὶ εὐχὴ λέγεται οἱονεὶ εὐεχὴ διὰ τὸ τοῦ εὖ ἔχεσθαι, ἤτοι τοῦ ἀρίστου, τὸν τοῦτο ποιοῦντα).
The etymology is implicit in Theodorus Studites, Epistle 35, l. 31-32 (ὡς εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν ἁγίαις εὖ ἔχει), Damascius, In Phaedonem 51, 6 (τοιοῦτον δὲ καὶ τὸ εὔχεσθαι, εἴπερ τέλειον ἤδη τὸ ἔχεσθαι τοῦ εὖ), Libanius, Characteres epistolici 70 (δι’ εὐχῆς γὰρ ἔχω τοὺς φίλους εὖ πράττειν ἀεί)
Comment
Functional etymology, the prayer being defined through its aim, the interest of the praying person. The word is analyzed as a compound, on the model of the many compounds in εὐ-, and in that case as a nominalization of the usual phrase εὖ ἔχειν “to be in good condition”. The Greeks were not disturbed by the fact that there is a real compound matching this phrase, which has a different structure, in εὐεξία "good constitution, strength"