θρώσκω

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Word-form

δόρυ

Transliteration (Word)

doru

English translation (word)

tree, stem, beam, spear

Transliteration (Etymon)

thrōskō

English translation (etymon)

to spring

Author

Epimerismi homerici

Century

9 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, delta 19

Ed.

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

Quotation

δόρυ: ἀπὸ τοῦ δρῦς δρυός δόρυ, ἐπὶ παντὸς λεγόμενον <ξύλου> ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ τὸ δρυμός καὶ δρύφακτος. ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέρω, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ λεπίζω· τοῦ γὰρ φλοιοῦ λεπίζεται τὰ ξύλα. ἢ ἐκ τοῦ θορῶ, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ πηδῶ, θόρυ τι ὂν καὶ δόρυ, τὸ ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνατρέχον· καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς ‘ἐπεὶ οὔπω τοῖον ἀνήλυθεν ἐκ δόρυ γαίης’ (ζ 167). ἢ ἐκ τοῦ δρῦς· οἱ γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι ἐκ δρυΐνων κατεσκεύαζον ξύλων.

Translation (En)

Doru "tree": from drus, druos "oak", applied to any tree by the ancients, as shown by drumos "thicket" and druphaktos "with a wooden wall", or from derō which means "to flay". Because the trees can be stripped from their bark. Or. from thorô, which means "to leap", a *thoru, as it were, and <then> doru, the one rushing upwards from the earth, ‘epei oupō toion anēluthen ek doru gaiēs’ "since never any such tree had yet risen from the earth" (Od. 6.167). Or from drûs "oak", for the ancients used to build from oak wood.

Comment

Derivational etymology, designed to account for one specific line in the Odyssey where δόρυ still means "tree", referring to a live tree, not a cut one. Since in the line δόρυ is the subject of a motion verb ἀνήλυθε "it rose", the etymology was deduced from that collocation, as often in scholiastic etymologies, and the closest morion verb from a formal point of view happened to be the aorist ἔθορον, from θρώσκω "to spring, to leap". Although it is clearly not the case that trees "leap", this was not a strong enough objection to derive the word from this verb, although it refers to a quick motion. Other plant names are derived from verbs meaning "to run", in the same fashion (see ἄνηθον / ἄνω + θέω, ἄνθος / ἄνω + θέω)

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum, delta, p. 375 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 283 (Εἴρηται ἀπὸ τοῦ δρῦς δρυὸς, δόρυ· ἐπὶ παντὸς λεγόμενον ξύλου ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν, ὡς μάρτυς δρυμὸς, καὶ δρύφακτος. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέρω, τὸ λεπίζω· τοῦ γὰρ φλοιοῦ λεπίζεται τὰ ξύλα. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δρύπω· ἢ ἐκ τοῦ δρῦς· οἱ γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι ἐκ δρυΐνων κατεσκεύαζον. Ἢ ἐκ τοῦ θορῶ, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ πηδῶ, θόρυ τὶ ὂν, τὸ ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνατρέχον, ὡς ὁ ποιητὴς λέγει παρετυμολογῶν αὐτὸ, ‘ἐπεὶ οὔπω τοῖον ἀνήλυθεν ἐκ δόρυ γαίης’. Ἔνιοι καὶ τὸ δέρμα, δόρυ); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, delta, p. 564 (idem); Etym. Symeonis, delta 332 (Εἴρηται ἀπὸ τῆς δρυὸς δρύον, τί ὂν ἐπὶ παντὸς ξύλου λεγομένου παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέρω, τὸ λεπίζω, τοῦ γὰρ φλοιοῦ λεπίζεται τὰ ξύλα. Ἢ θόρυ τί ὄν· τὸ ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνατρέχον, ὡς καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς παρετυμολογεῖ· οὔ πω τοίαν ἤλυθον)

Modern etymology

Old inherited name of the tree, PIE *dór-u-, with cognates in most IE languages. Belongs with δρῦς, δρυμός, δένδρον. Etymologically a derivative of *der- "to flay" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has δόρυ in the meaning "spear"

Entry By

Le Feuvre