The explanation through ἀναδιδόσθαι "to gush forth" implies that the given etymon, a-ima (ἄϊμα) is analyzed as the verbal noun *ἴμα "way" of εἴμι "to go", and the initial a- as a form of ἀνα- expressing an upward move. As a matter of fact, ἀνα- has a variant ἀν- (from the elision of ἀνα- before vowel in Ionic-Attic, but found also before consonant in other dialects, and most notably in Homer): and as the negative prefix has two variants, ἀ- and ἀν-, so next to ἀν- "up" was invented a variant ἀ-. Therefore ἄϊμα is supposed to mean "that which goes upwards". The model may be lines like Od. 18.97 αὐτίκα δ’ ἦλθεν ἀνὰ στόμα φοίνιον αἷμα, Il. 11.458 αἷμα δέ οἱ σπασθέντος ἀνέσσυτο