αἴξ + ἅλλομαι
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
αἰγιαλός
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
aigialos
English translation (word)
seashore
Transliteration (Etymon)
Aix + hallomai
English translation (etymon)
goat + to leap
Source
idem
Ref.
Scholia in Oppianum, Halieutica 1.246
Ed.
U.C. Bussemaker, Scholia et paraphrases in Nicandrum et Oppianum in Scholia in Theocritum (ed. F. Dübner), Paris: Didot, 1849
Quotation
αἰγιαλοῖσι· αἰγιαλὸς παρὰ τὸ αἶα ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ γείτων καὶ τὸ ἅλς· ἡ τῆς αἴας γείτων ἃλς, ἢ παρὰ τὸ δίκην αἰγὸς ἅλλεσθαι τὰ κύματα ἐν αὐτῇ.
Translation (En)
Aigialoisi "on the seashores": aigialos comes from aia "earth" and geitōn "neighbor" and hals "sea", the land next to the sea. Or from the fact that the waves leap (hallesthai) on it as goats (dikēn aigos)
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 27 (Αἰγιαλός: Ἐτυμολογεῖται παρὰ τὸ τὴν αἶαν γείτονα εἶναι τῆς ἁλός· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ γαίω· [ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ δίκην αἰγὸς ἅλλεσθαι.])
Modern etymology
Unknown. The word may be attested in Mycenaean in the derived adjective a3-ki-a2-ri-jo /aigihalios/ (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has αιγιαλός "seashore" as a scientific term. The usual word is γιαλός < αίγιαλός
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology equating the first member with αἴξ, αἰγός "goat". As goats have nothing to do on the seashore, they are introduced as a metaphor for the waves. The compound is supposed to mena "where the waves leap as goats", and only the comparator is kept while the comparandum, the waves, subject of ἅλλομαι,is dropped.