ἀναθέω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Reference
Edition
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
(θάνατος) διὸ δὴ καὶ λόγον ἔχει […] οἷον ἐξᾴττειν καὶ ἀναθεῖν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποπνέοντος τοῦ σώματος ἀναπνέουσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀναψύχουσαν. ὅρα δὲ τὸ ἀντικείμενον θανάτῳ, τὴν γένεσιν, ὡς τοὐναντίον δηλοῖ ῥοπήν τινα κάτω καὶ νεῦσιν ἐπὶ γῆν ἐκείνου τοῦ περὶ τὴν τελευτὴν πάλιν ἀναθέοντος·
Translation (En)
(death). And this is why it makes sense that the soul breaks out and runs upwards (anatheîn) when the body expires the soul that makes it breathe and live. And notice that the opposite of death (thanatōi), the birth (genesin), as the opposite, shows a downward move and an incline toward the earth (neusin epi gēn) of the element that, at the end of life, runs upwards again
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 442 (Θάνατος: Παρὰ τὸ τείνω, τὸ τανύω, τάνατος καὶ θάνατος, ὁ τείνων τὸ σῶμα τῇ ψύξει· ἢ ὅτι ταναός ἐστιν, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντας ἑαυτὸν διατείνων. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ θεῖν ἄνω τὰς ψυχάς. Ἢ θενῶτός τις ὢν, διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ νῶτα τίθεσθαι τὸν τεθνεῶτα. 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).
The etymology is half-explicit in the anonymous Dialogue on Astrology once attributed to Hermippus: W. Kroll and P. Viereck, Anonymi christiani Hermippus: De astrologia dialogus [Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (BT). Leipzig: Teubner, 1895], p. 15–16 : καὶ γῆρας τοῦτο τοῦ χρόνου καλῶς ὠνόμασται, ῥεῦσις οἷον πρὸς γῆν, ὥσπερ ἡ γένεσις τὴν ἀρχήν. ἡ δὲ παντελὴς αὐτοῦ ἔκλειψις καὶ θάνατος γίνεται οὐκέτι μὲν νεῦσις εἰς γῆν ἀλλ’ ἄνοδος, ὃ δὴ σημαίνει καὶ τοὔνομα. "and this age of life has been aptly named γῆρας "old age", being like a flowing toward the earth, as is <aptly named" γένεσις "birth" the beginning. And the complete end of old age and death is no longer an incline toward the earth [etymology of γένεσις] but an ascent, which is precisely the meaning of the noun". The ἄνοδος "going up" is the noun corresponding to the verb ἀναθέω, etymon of θάνατος, and the ὃ δὴ σημαίνει καὶ τοὔνομα confirms that it is the assumed etymology. The replacement of ἀναθέω by the noun ἄνοδος makes it an elliptic etymology.
Comment
The etymology is not explicit for θάνατος, but since the opposite of death, birth (γένεσις) is explicitly etymologized as an "incline toward the earth", as the opposite, it follows that "to run upward" is the etymology of θάνατος "death" (see γένεσις / γῆ + νεῦσις). This is a case of etymology ex antonymo. The etymology provided for γένεσις is compositional, that for θάνατος is not really because the etymon is ἀναθέω, a preverbed verb. However, the etymology assumes a segmentation θ-ανα-τος in which the preverb is the second element of the compound while the verb is the first one: it follows that the verb ἀναθέω is dealt with like a nominal compound, with a potentially changing relative order of the two elements (the technical term σύνθεσις in Greek grammar refers to both composition and preverbation, there being no difference in nature between the two in the opinion of Greek grammarians). This will become clear in the Etym. Magnum, which has the etymon θεῖν ἄνω, equivalent of ἀναθέω but with the adverb instead of the preverb, thanks to which the relative order of the elements is identical in the lemma (θάνατος) and the etymon (θεῖν ἄνω). Notice that "death" is presented as the antonym of "birth", not of "life": that is, it is not a state, but the end of a state, with "birth" being the beginning of it.