αἶα
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
γαῖα
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
gaia
English translation (word)
earth
Transliteration (Etymon)
aia
English translation (etymon)
earth
Source
idem
Ref.
Scholia et glossae in Halieutica 2.32
Ed.
U.C. Bussemaker, Scholia et paraphrases in Nicandrum et Oppianum in Scholia in Theocritum (ed. F. Dübner), Paris: Didot, 1849
Quotation
Γαῖα· εἰ μὲν ἀττικῶς, διὰ διφθόγγου· αἶα (cod. αἶ) γὰρ ἦν, καὶ προσθήκῃ τοῦ γ γαῖα
Translation (En)
Gaia "earth": if it is Attic, with a diphthong: for it was aia, and by addition of /g/, gaia
Parallels
Tzetzes, Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem 1.62 (Τὸ δὲ γαῖα, τὸ γαῖ δίφθογγον, ἀπὸ τοῦ αἶα γέγονε, καὶ προσθήκῃ <τοῦ γ> γαῖα); Scholia in Hesiodum, Op. 159 (Tzetzes) (Γαῖα, τὸ γαι δίφθογγος, Ἀττικῶς. Αἶα γὰρ, καὶ προσθήκῃ γαῖα)
Modern etymology
Unknown (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: the word is derived from a synonymous poetic word by a single formal change, the addition of a consonant at the beginning of the word. This is the reversal of a more usual etymology deriving αἶα from γαῖα by the opposite process (see αἶα / γαῖα)