δαίω1

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No

Last modification

Thu, 08/10/2023 - 11:52

Word-form

δαίς

Transliteration (Word)

dais

English translation (word)

meal, banquet

Transliteration (Etymon)

daiō

English translation (etymon)

to kindle

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 251

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967)

Quotation

Δαίς: Παρὰ τὸ δαίω, τὸ μερίζω, ὁ μέλλων, δαίσω· ἀποβολῇ τοῦ ω, δαὶς, ἡ μεριστὴ εὐωχία· τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν διένεμον τὰς τροφάς. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δαίω, τὸ καίω· ἐπεὶ διὰ πυρὸς γίνεται πάντοτε. Διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα ὠμοφάγα καὶ ὠμησταί. 

Translation (En)

Dais "banquet". From daiō "to divide", the future is daisō and by dropping gf the /ō/, dais, the shared banquet. For they used to divide the meals. Or from daiō "to burn", because it is always cooked on the fire. And this is why all the other animals are ōmophaga "raw-eating" and ōmēstai "raw-eating"

Comment

Derivational etymology starting from the second meaning of δαίω in ancient grammatical thought, that is, from the homonymous verb δαίω "to burn, to kindle". The meal is cooked, and this is what distinguishes human beings from all other animals. This etymology, found only here, may have been designed after that of δαΐς "battle", which was derived now from "to divide", now from "to kindle" (see δάις1 / δαίω1 and δάις1 / δαίω2): some lexicographers must have thought that, since the two etymologies were possible for "battle", they were also possible for "banquet"

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

Δαίς is derived from δαίομαι "to divide", belongs with δατέομαι "to divide", and further δᾶμος "land portion, region, people", PIE *deh2- "to divide" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre