χοώ
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
χθών
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
khthōn
English translation (word)
earth
Transliteration (Etymon)
khoō
English translation (etymon)
to heap up
Century
12 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 809
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848
Quotation
Χθών: Παρὰ τὸ διαχεῖσθαι καὶ χώννυσθαι δύνασθαι· ἢ παρὰ τὸ χῶ, τὸ χωρῶ· οὗ παράγωγον, χείω· ὅθεν, ‘Οὐδὸς δ’ ἀμφοτέρους ὅδε χείσεται’
Translation (En)
Khthōn "earth": from the fact it can be poured (diakheîsthai) and heaped up (khōnnusthai). Or from *khô "to contain", a derivative of which is kheiō. From where ‘Oudos d'amphoterous code kheisetai’ "this threshold will hold us both" (Od. 18.17)
Parallels
Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, khi, p. 1852 (Χθών. ἡ γῆ. καὶ κλίνεται χθονός. παρὰ τὸ διαχεῖσθαι καὶ χωννύεσθαι. ἢ παρὰ τὸ γῶ, τὸ χωρῶ)
Modern etymology
Old inherited name of the earth, with cognates in all IE languages, belonging with χαμαί, χθαμαλός etc. PIE *dhghom- with either metathesis or cluster simplification in Greek (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No, but the derived adjective χθόνιος "belonging to the underworld" still exists as a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology. Like the etymology by χέω (see χθών / χέω), it may be derived from a reinterpretation of Philoxenus' etymology by *χῶ = χωρέω (see χθών / χωρέω). The monosyllabic verb *χῶ could, as a matter of fact, be read χόω, which is the thematic version of χώννυμι "to heap up", regularly used with "earth" as its object. This etymon had over χέω the advantage of providing not only the initial /kh/ but also the /ō/, and then the /th/ was accounted for by an addition.