ἔλαιον + κεύθω

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No

Last modification

Sat, 10/07/2023 - 11:10

Word-form

λήκυθος

Transliteration (Word)

lēkuthos

English translation (word)

oil-flask

Transliteration (Etymon)

elation + keuthō

English translation (etymon)

olive oil + to conceal

Author

Eustathius of Thessalonica

Century

12 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Comm. Od., vol. 1, p. 239

Ed.

G. Stallbaum, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, 2 vols. in 1, Leipzig: Weigel, 1:1825; 2:1826 (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1970)

Quotation

Λήκυθος δὲ, ἀγγεῖον ἐλαιοδόχον, παρὰ τὸ ἔλαιον κεύθειν. ἵνα ᾖ ἐλαιόκυθός τις

Translation (En)

Lēkuthos "oil-flask", a vase containing olive oil, from "to conceal" (keuthein) olive oil (elaion), so that it is an *elaiokuthos, so to speak

Comment

Functional compositional etymology. It requires several formal changes: in the first member, apocope of the initial /e/, and change of the syllable λαι- into λη- (alternatively, Eustathius started from an etymology where the first member was λα- "greatly", which then was changed into λη-, and in his etymology ἔλαιον first yielded λα- and then the same evolution applies as for the etymology by λα-). In the second member, the vowel /e/ must be dropped (in modern terms, κυθ- is the zero grade of καυθ- and there are many examples in Greek of the alternation ευ ~ υ)

Parallels

Schol. Od. ζ 79b Pontani (ληκύθῳ] παρὰ τὸ “κεύθειν” τὸ “ἔλαιον”)

Modern etymology

Probably a loanword (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has λήκυθος as a learned technical word

Entry By

Le Feuvre