*γῶ
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
γαῖαν
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
gaia
English translation (word)
earth
Transliteration (Etymon)
*gô
English translation (etymon)
to give birth
Century
5-4 BC
Source
idem
Ref.
Cratylus 408b-c
Ed.
J. Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903
Translation (En)
Parallels
Eustathius, Comm. Il., vol. 1, p. 289 (Ὡς δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ γῶ τὸ χωρῶ καὶ τίκτω γέα διὰ τοῦ ε ψιλοῦ, ὅθεν κατὰ κρᾶσιν τὸ γῆ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ γαῖα διὰ διφθόγγου, ὡς τὸ μῶ μαῖα, δηλοῦσιν οἱ παλαιοί. […] Τὸ δὲ παρῆχθαι τὴν γαῖαν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἵνα ᾖ, ὡς σελήνη σεληναία, οὕτω γῆ γαῖα, οὐκ ἀρέσκει τοῖς παλαιοῖς. καὶ καλῶς ἄρα τοῦτο· ἐχρῆν γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ τὴν γαῖαν μὴ προπερισπᾶσθαι ἀλλὰ παροξύνεσθαι)
Modern etymology
Variant of γῆ, unknown etymology (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has γαίαι (plural) as a learned word for "lands", and the singular in the readymade phrase γαίαν έχοι ελαφράν "may the earth be light on him"
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology equating the first syllable of γαῖα "earth" with the root in the zero grade found in the perfect γέγαμεν "we were born", γεγάασι. Since the Earth is referred to as a mother, and is the mother of gods in the Hesiodic Theogony, it was natural to seek an etymology by the verb "to give birth", γεννάω, derived from the same root