δα- + ψιλός

Validation

No

Last modification

Sat, 12/23/2023 - 18:05

Word-form

δαψιλῶς

Transliteration (Word)

dapsilēs

English translation (word)

abundant

Transliteration (Etymon)

da- + psilos

English translation (etymon)

much + naked

Author

Etym. Parvum

Century

9 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Parvum, delta 5

Ed.

R. Pintaudi, Etymologicum parvum quod vocatur [Testi e documenti per lo studio dell'antichità 42. Milan: Istituto Editoriale Cisalpino, 1973]

Quotation

Δαψιλῶς· ψιλὸν λέγεται τὸ μικρὸν καὶ ταπεινὸν, ὡς καὶ ψιλὸς στρατιώτης ὁ μὴ ἔχων ὅπλα· καὶ μετὰ τοῦ ΔΑ ἐπιτατικοῦ μορίου δαψιλός, ὁ ἀρκετὸς καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐπίρρημα.

Translation (En)

Dapsilôs "abundantly": psilos means "small" and "humble", as the naked (psilos) soldier, the one without weapons. And with the intensive prefix da-, *dapsilos, the sufficient one, and from it, the adverb

Comment

Compositional etymology, suggested by the form itself. The meaning of ψιλός "naked" is opposed to that of δαψιλής "abundant", therefore this is an etymology a contrario (enantiosemy). The interesting point is that the etymology is different from the one provided for δαψιλής. It must have been designed for a specific context.

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum, delta, p. 336 (Δαψιλός· ψιλὸν λέγεται τὸ μόνον καὶ ταπεινόν, ὡς καὶ ψιλὸς στρατιώτης ὁ μεμονωμένος καὶ ὅπλα μὴ ἔχων· καὶ μετὰ τοῦ δα ἐπιτατικοῦ μορίου δαψιλός, ὁ ἀρκετὸς καὶ ἱκανός, <κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν>)

Modern etymology

Δαψιλής belongs with δάπτω "to devour", δαπάνη "expenditure". The form is derived from the aorist stem (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has the adverb δαψιλώς as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre