ἀ- + ἄτη
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
Θάνατος. τάνατός τις ἐστί. παρὰ τὸ τείνειν τὸ σώμα τῇ ψύξει· ἢ ὅτι ταναός ἐστιν· ἐπὶ πάντας διατείνων ἑαυτόν. ἢ περισσὸν τὸ θ. ἄνατος. ἄνευ γὰρ ἄτης ἐστὶν ὁ ἀποθανών.
Translation (En)
Thanatos “death”: it is a form of *tanatos, because it stretches [teinein] the body by freezing it. Or of tanaos “outstretched”, because it extends [diateinōn] to everyone. Or the /th/ is superfluous, because a dead person is without [aneu] bane [atēs].
Other translation(s)
Thanatos « mort » : c’est une forme de *tanatos, parce qu’elle étire [teinein] le corps en le refroidissant. Ou de tanaos « étendu », parce qu’elle s’étend [diateinō] à tous. Ou bien le /th/ est superflu, parce qu’une personne morte est sans [aneu] fléau [atēs].
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 442 (Θάνατος: […] Ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἄνευ ἄτης τὸν τεθνεῶτα εἶναι· θάνατος γὰρ ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυσις· παρὰ τὴν ἄτην, τὴν βλάβην, ἄνατος καὶ θάνατος· ὁ ἄνευ βλάβης μένων ἀποθανών); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, theta, p. 1021 (Θάνατος Χριστοῦ ἐστι τῶν σαρκικῶν παθῶν νέκρωσις καὶ πάσης δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας ἀφάνισις ἀρίστη. […] ἢ παρὰ τὴν ἄτην, ὃ σημαίνει τὴν βλάβην, γίνεται ἄνατος καὶ θάνατος)
Comment
Compositional etymology, maybe of Stoic origin, defining death as the state in which one no longer suffers. The gloss seems to imply that the etymon is ἄνευ, but in fact it is the privative prefix ἀ-, ἀν- before vowel, which is impossible to use if the gloss is not itself a compound, hence the choice of a prepositional phrase. It implies a series of changes: addition of /th/ at the beginning of the word, and shortening of the initial ᾱ of ἄτη, if ever this was seen as a problem – but the etymology may have been designed at a time when phonological vowel quantity had been lost.