βαίνω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ἐφήβαιον
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ephēbaion
English translation (word)
pubes
Transliteration (Etymon)
bainō
English translation (etymon)
to go
Century
5 AD
Source
Meletius
Ref.
De natura hominis p. 109
Ed.
J. A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, vol. 3, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1836 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1963)
Quotation
ἐφήβαιον δὲ, διὰ τὸ βαίνειν τὰς τρίχας ἐκεῖ, ὀλίγας τὲ καὶ μικράς· ὥστε μόνον βῆναι <παυσάμενον>· βαιὸς γὰρ ὁ μικρός [<παυσάμενον> not in Meletius' text, added after the Et. Magnum, see Comment]
Translation (En)
And ephēbaion "pubes", because the hair grows (lit. "goes", bainein) there, scarce and short, so that it only goes <as its stops>, for baios means "small"
Parallels
Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 72 (ἐφήβαιον δὲ διὰ τὸ βαίνειν τὰς τρίχας ἐκεῖ ὀλίγας τε καὶ μικράς, ἐκ τοῦ μόνον βῆναι· βαιὸς γὰρ ὁ μικρός)
Modern etymology
Derivative of ἔφηβος "young man", itself a compound of ἥβη "youth"
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has εφήβαιον "pubes" as a medical word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology, likely coming from Orion. The text is probably corrupt. The beginning is clear, the pubes is named from the growth of pubic hair. The end is also clear, "baios means small". The unclear part is ὥστε μόνον βῆναι. However, it can be compared with the Et. Magnum, p. 417 ἠβαιός […] Οἱ δὲ, παρὰ τὸ βῶ, τὸ βαίνω, τὸ οὕτως ὀλίγον, ὥστε μόνον βῆναι παυσάμενον "others say it comes from βαίνω, that which is so short that it simply stops and goes". Meletius (or, rather, his source) obviously mixed here two different explanations and dropped some material