δράω 2 + δεσπότης
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
δραπέτης
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
drapetēs
English translation (word)
runaway
Transliteration (Etymon)
draō 2 + despotēs
English translation (etymon)
to see + master
Century
1 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
De adverbiis p. 137
Ed.
R. Schneider, G. Uhlig, Apollonii Dyscoli quae supersunt (Grammatici graeci I/1), Leipzig, Teubner 1878
Quotation
τὸ δρῶ σημαίνει καὶ τὸ ὁρῶ, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ τὸ δρωπάζειν, καὶ τὸ δραπέτης ὁ ἐπιβλέπων τοὺς δεσπότας
Translation (En)
Drô also means "to see", from which also drōpazein "to examine"", and drapetēs "runaway slave", he who watches over his masters.
Parallels
Orion, Etymologicum, delta, p. 47 (Δραπέτης. ὁ ἀποβλέπων εἰς τοὺς δεσπότας, παρὰ τὸ <δ>ῥῶ τὸ βλέπω. οὕτως Ἀπολλώνιος ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἐπιῤῥημάτων [NB: Sturz has παρὰ τὸ ῥῶ]); Scholia in Sophoclem, Ajax 1p (recentiora) (δέδορκά σε: ἐκ τοῦ δρῶ τὸ βλέπω, δέδρακα, ὁ μέσος δέδορκα, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ δραπέτης [assuming this is the same etymology, with the explanation of the second member of the compound omitted])
Modern etymology
Belongs with διδράσκω, ἔδρᾱν (*dreh2- "to run"), but the detail is unclear (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology. The verb δράω is abstracted from the adverb ὑπόδρα "looking from under the brows", and used to provide the etymology of various words. The second member -πέτης is apparently identified as δεσπότης, which implies a syncope of /des/ and a change of the vowel /o/ into /e/. From the semantic point of view, this etymology rather fits the slave living in the house of his master than the runaway slave.