αἷμα + χέω
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
τὸ γὰρ αἰχμὴ σύνθετον οἱ παλαιοὶ ἔφασαν ἐκ τοῦ αἷμα χεῖν
Translation (En)
"The Ancients said that the word aikhmē "point of a spear" is a compound, from the fact that it pours (kheîn) blood (haima)."
Parallels
Theognostus, Canones sive De orthographia 678; Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, alpha 167 (τὸ δὲ αἰχμή ἐκ τοῦ ἀΐσσω· ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ ‹καὶ› παρὰ τὸ αἷμα χέειν); Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 60 (idem); Eustathius, Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 1, 370 Van der Valk (αἴχμη παρὰ τὸ αἷμα χέειν τῇ ὀξύτητι); ibid. 1, 664; Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 40 (Αἰχμή· Ἐκ τοῦ ἀΐσσω ἀϊχὴ, καὶ κράσει αἰχή· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ μ, αἰχμὴ, ὡς δράξω δραχμὴ, τὸ λεπτὸν νόμισμα. Ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ καὶ παρὰ τὸ αἷμα χέειν).
Ps.-Choeroboscus, Peri posotētos p. 317, has a formulation which gives αἷμα as the first element of the compound, but as the second element χαίρειν instead of χέειν: εἴρηται δὲ παρὰ τὸ αἷμα χαίρειν, αἰχμή. The spearpoint would be the one which "rejoices in blood". But χαίρειν does not take the accusative, and that must be an alteration, introduced by a copyist writing under dictation, of the explanation αἷμα χέειν: the uncontracted form χέειν, pronounced in Byzantine Greek [ˈxeïn], was not identified and was transformed into the phonetically close form [ˈxerin], χαίρειν.
Comment
The word is parsed as a compound. This etymology is of a functional type: the function of the spearhead is to shed blood. It implies a phonetic manipulation, the metathesis of [kh] and [m] since the "original" form, from αἷμα χέω, must have been [haimkhē], but this remains implicit. The absence of initial aspiration in αἰχμή whereas there is one in αἷμα was not a problem in a psilotic state of Greek as was the case in Roman times, and as this type of coexistence between forms with or without initial aspiration was familiar because of the effects of aspiration dissimilation (Grassmann's law), there were many models on which that etymology could lean.