ἐνιαύω

Word

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἐνιαυτός

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

eniautos

English translation (word)

anniversary

Transliteration (Etymon)

eniauō

English translation (etymon)

to spend the night in

Author

Philoxenus

Century

1 BC

Reference

fr. 480

Edition

C. Theodoridis, Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Philoxenos [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 2. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1976]:

Source

Epimerismi homerici

Ref.

Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, epsilon 40

Ed.

A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2] Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995: 59-761

Quotation


ἐνιαυτός· ... οἱ δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἰαύω, τὸ ἐνδιατρίβω, ὡς λέγει Φιλόξενος, 
καὶ ἐν συνθέσει ἐνιαύω, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐνιαυτός· ὁ ἐνδιάτριπτος χρόνος. καὶ 
Ὅμηρος (Od. 9.187) "ἔνθα Κύκλωψ ἐνίαυε πελώριος"

Translation (En)

"eniautos "anniversary": others say that it is from iauō "to spend the night", as says Philoxenus, and in composition eniauō "to spend the night in", and from the latter eniautos, the time spent inside. And Homer (Od. 9.187) has "ἔνθα Κύκλωψ ἐνίαυε πελώριος"

Comment

This paronymic etymology relies on the mere phonetic similarity between the noun and the verb. The semantic relationship is impossible to justify, as one does not understand why the selected period "spent inside" would be the year rather than the night or the day

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum, epsilon p. 476 (Ἐνιαυτός· ὅτι ἐν ἑαυτῷ πάντα ἔχει. Ἐνιαυτός· παρὰ τὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ διειληφέναι τοὺς καιροὺς καὶ τροπάς); Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 153 (Ἐνιαυτός, παρὰ τὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἰληφέναι τοὺς μῆνας καὶ τοὺς χρόνους· οἱ δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἰαύω τὸ ἐνδιατρίβω [διατέλλω], οἱονεὶ ὁ ἐνδιάτριπτος χρόνος· καὶ Ὅμηρος,"ἔνθα Κύκλωψ ἐνίαυε πελώριος"); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 342 (Ἐνιαυτός: Ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἰέναι […]. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ διειληφέναι πάντα, τούς τε καρποὺς καὶ τὰς τροπὰς, ἢ τοὺς χρόνους καὶ τοὺς μῆνας. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἰαύω, τὸ ἐνδιατρίβω, σύνθετον ἐνιαύω, καὶ ὄνομα, ἐνιαυτὸς, ὁ ἐνδιάτριπτος χρόνος· καὶ Ὅμηρος, "Ἔνθα Κύκλωψ ἐνίαυεν"); Etym. Symeonis, epsilon 439 (Ἐνιαυτός· παρὰ τὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ διειληφέναι πάντα τούς τε καρποὺς καὶ τροπάς, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἰαύω, τὸ διατρίβω· πολλὰς μὲν ἀΰπνους νύκτας ἴαυον· ἐνιαύω καὶ ὄνομα ἐνιαυτός, ὁ ἐνδιάτριπτος χρόνος); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 293 (Σημείωσαι δὲ ὅτι ὁ ἐνιαυτός γίνεται μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰαύω, 
τὸ διατρίβω, δηλοῖ δὲ χρόνον μακρόν· ἰαύειν μὲν γὰρ τὸ διατρίβειν, διατρίβειν
 δὲ τὸ ἀργεῖν. Ἐνιαυτὸς γοῦν χρόνος ὁ διατριβὴν ἔχων καὶ μὴ σύντομος); idem, Comm. Od. 2, 60 (ἰαύειν τὸ διατρίβειν, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ἐνιαυτὸς); Scholia vetera in Aristophanem, scholia in Ranas 346 (πῶς εἶπεν ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐτῶν, ἐπεὶ ἔτος καὶ ἐνιαυτὸς ταὐτόν. λύεται δὲ παρὰ τῶν παλαιῶν οὕτως· τὸ ἰαύειν ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ ὕπνου καὶ ἀνακλίσεως τίθεται, ὡς παρ’ Ὁμήρῳ "τῇ παριαύων τερπέσθω,» ἤγουν παρακείμενος· ὡς ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ ἡ λέξις ἐπὶ διατριβῆς καὶ ἀργίας λέγεται, ὅθεν καὶ ἐνιαυτὸς ὁ μακρὸς καὶ πολλὴν ἔχων διατριβήν.); Scholia vet. Od. α.288h Pontani (ἐνιαυτὸς ὁ χρόνος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνιαύω τὸ διατρίβω)

Bibliography

On the etymology of ἐνιαυτός, see C. Le Feuvre, "αὖτις δὲ περιπλομένου ἐνιαυτοῦ (Hesiod, Op. 386): on the formation of ἐνιαυτός", in D. Gunkel, S. Jamison, A. Mercado, K. Yoshida (eds), Vina diem celebrent: Studies in Linguistics and Philology in Honor of Brent Vine, Ann Arbor 2018.

Modern etymology

The word is a compound, its first member is ἔνος "ear" and its second member contains the old root noun *wet- "year". See Le Feuvre 2018

Persistence in Modern Greek

Yes

Entry By

Le Feuvre
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