ῥάβδος
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Βραβευταί, κυρίως οἱ τὴν ῥάβδον ἀπὸ φοίνικος ἤ τινος ἄλλου διδόντες σύμβολον τῆς νίκης. ῥαβδευταὶ τινὲς ὄντες· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ κατ’ ἀρχὴν β, ὡς παρ’ Αἰολεῦσι τὸ ῥόδον βρόδον λέγεται
Translation (En)
Brabeutai "arbiters", properly speaking the ones who give a staff (rhabdon) of palm tree or of another tree as a symbol of victory, as "staffers" (*rhabdeutai), as it were, and through the addition of the initial [b], as in Aeolic rhodon "rose" is pronounced brodon"
Parallels
Etym. Genuinum, beta 234 (βραβευταί· διοικηταί, κριταί, ὁρισταί. κυρίως δὲ βραβευταὶ λέγονται οἱ τὴν ῥάβδον ἀπὸ φοίνικος ἤ τινος ἄλλου διδόντες σύμβολα τῆς νίκης, ῥαβδευταί τινες ὄντες· καὶ καθ’ ὑπέρθεσιν τοῦ ρ βραβευταί); ibid., beta 235 (βραβεῖον· ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥάβδος ῥαβδεῖον καὶ καθ’ ὑπέρθεσιν τοῦ β βραδεῖον καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ δ εἰς τὸ β βραβεῖον. ῥάβδος δὲ σημαίνει τὸ βασιλικὸν σκῆπτρον, ἐξ οὗ καὶ βραβευταὶ λέγονται οἱ τὰς βασιλικὰς ῥάβδους κατέχοντες καὶ τοῖς νικῶσι τοὺς στεφάνους διδόντες. καὶ βραβεῖον λέγεται ὁ παρὰ τῶν βραβευτῶν διδόμενος στέφανος τῷ νικῶντι ); Etym. Gudianum, beta p. 284 (βραβεῖον· παρὰ τὸ ῥάβδος ῥαβδεῖον καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ δ εἰς β καὶ ἐν ὑπερβιβασμῷ τοῦ ἑτέρου β βραβεῖον. λέγεται δὲ τὸ βασιλικὸν σκῆπτρον, ἐξ οὗ καὶ βραβευταὶ οἱ τὰς βασιλικὰς ῥάβδους βαστάζοντες καὶ τοῖς νικῶσι τοὺς στεφάνους διδόντες "from ῥάβδος, *ῥαβδεῖον and with change of the [d] into [b] and anticipation of the other [b], βραβεῖον"); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 210 (βραβευταὶ, οἱ τὰς βασιλικὰς ῥάβδους κατέχοντες, καὶ τοῖς νικῶσι τοὺς στεφάνους διδόντες. Καὶ βραβεῖον λέγεται ὁ παρὰ τῶν βραβευτῶν διδόμενος στέφανος τῷ νικῶντι); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1 p. 490 (idem).
Comment
The explanation starts from one attribute of the arbiter, the staff. From the formal point of view, it implies a phonetic manipulation (adjunction) which is justified by an appeal to a phonetic particularity of the Aeolic dialect, although the word βραβεύς, βραβευτής is not Aeolic. It is not rare for Greek etymologists to use dialectal comparanda in order to justify their explanation. In the transmitted text of Aeolic poets, the spelling βρ- is used for an older initial sequence ϝρ- (ϝρόδον "rose"). Of course Greek etymologists did not know about the initial ϝ- and applied this equivalence βρ- = ῥ- to other words where there was no ϝ-. Other sources repeat the etymology deriving βραβεύς, βραβευτής, βραβεῖον from ῥάβδος but with a different phonetic development which does not appeal to Aeolic (see Parallels).