ἀκτή1

Validation

No

Last modification

Wed, 08/02/2023 - 11:20

Word-form

ἀκτή

Transliteration (Word)

aktē

English translation (word)

corn, flour

Transliteration (Etymon)

aktē

English translation (etymon)

promontory

Author

Porphyry

Century

3 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Od. 7.104

Ed.

H. Schrader, Porphyrii quaestionum Homericarum ad Odysseam pertinentium reliquiae, Leipzig: Teubner, 1890

Quotation

καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις ἔφη μυληφάτου ἀλφίτου ἀκτῆς (β 355). ἔστι δὲ ἡ ἀκτὴ οὐ τὸ κατεαγμένον, ὥς τινες, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐξέχον, ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν κατὰ τοὺς αἰγιαλοὺς ἐξοχῶν, ἃς ἀκτὰς λέγει· ἀκτῇ ἐπὶ προὐχούσῃ (ω 82)· τὸ ἄκρον οὖν καὶ ἐξέχον τοῦ ἀλφίτου

Translation (En)

And elsewhere he says the aktē of the mill-crushed flour (Od. 2.355). And aktē is not the "broken" one, as some say, but the top, by metaphor from the promontories of the seashore, which he calls aktas (aktēi epi proukhousēi Od. 24.82 "on a prominent promontory"). Thus it is the upmost part and the top of the corn

Comment

Metaphorical etymology aiming at unifying the meanings of ἀκτή1 "promontory" ἀκτή2 "flour" by assuming, not that they both have the same etymology, as did Philoxenus, but that the one is a metaphoric use of the other: ἀκτή1 is the proper meaning and ἀκτή2 a metaphorical meaning, for which it is not justified to seek an etymology since this must be done only for the proper meaning.

Parallels

Schol. Od. η 104f Pontani (idem); Hesychius, Lexicon, delta 855 (Δημήτερος ἀκτή· τὸ ἀκρότατον καὶ ἐξοχώτατον τῶν Δημητριακῶν καρπῶν, τῶν πυρῶν. μεταφορικῶς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκρωτηρίων καὶ τῶν ἐξεχόντων τόπων τῶν παραθαλασσίων. ἢ ἄλευρον)

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre