αἴθω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
αἷμα περὶ τὸ αἴθω τὸ καίω· θερμὸν γάρ·
Translation (En)
Blood (haima) is from "to burn" (aithō), because blood is warm.
Parallels
Orion, Etymologicum (excerpta e cod. regio Paris. 2630), p. 185 (Αἷμα· τὸ θερμότατον τὸ ἐν σώμασι· διὸ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄναμμα εἶναι κέκληται αἷμα· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔσω [mistake for αἴθω because of the prononciation in Byzantine Greek]); Meletius, De natura hominis p. 133 (παρὰ δὲ τὸ αἴθω τὸ καίω αἷμα ἐκλήθη· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι χυμῶν θερμότερον τοῦ αἵματος ἐστί); Theognostus, Canones sive de orthographia 523 (Τὰ παρὰ τὸ αἴθω ῥῆμα, ὃ δηλοῖ τὸ καίω, διὰ τῆς αι διφθόγγου γράφονται· οἷον, αἰθάλη· αἰθήρ· ἀπὸ οὖν τοῦ αἴθω, ὁ παθητικὸς παρακείμενος ἦσμαι, ἀφ’ οὗ ῥηματικὸν ὄνομα αἶσμα, καὶ ἀποβολῇ τοῦ σ αἷμα, καὶ δασύνεται); Etym. Gudianum, theta p. 267, s.v. θυμός (τὸ δὲ αἷμα παρὰ τὸ αἴθω τὸ καίω).
This etymology may already be implied by Aretaeus (2 AD), De curatione acutorum morborum libri duo 2, 6, 2 (οὕνεκα τῷ αἵματι αἴθεται τὸ ἧπαρ· θερμὸν γὰρ τὸ αἷμα).
Comment
The etymology relies formally on the similarity of the initial diphthong, semantically on a descriptive property of blood, and contextually on the juncture found in Homer αἷμα θερμόν (Il. 11.266, Od. 9.388).