ἄλλως + ζῶ

Validation

No

Last modification

Mon, 02/19/2024 - 11:55

Word-form

ἀλαζών

Transliteration (Word)

alazōn

English translation (word)

braggart

Transliteration (Etymon)

allōs + zô

English translation (etymon)

otherwise + to live

Author

Chrysippus

Century

3 BC

Source

Etym. Gudianum

Ref.

Etym. Gudianum

Ed.

E.L. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum, fasc. 1 & 2, Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1909; 2:1920 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965)

Quotation

Ἀλαζών· ὁ ἀπατεὼν καὶ κομπαστής· εἴρηται δὲ ὁ ἐν ἄλῃ καὶ πλάνῃ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ περιϊέναι ζῶν· ἤ, ὡς Χρύσιππος <fr. deest ap. Arnim>, ὁ ἄλλως ζῶν οὐκ ἀπὸ ἐπιτηδευμάτων, ἀλλὰ ἀπάτης.

Translation (En)

Alazōn "braggart: the one fooling and bombasting. It comes from alē "wandering" and "to live" (zôn) from one's wanderings. Or, as Chrysippus says, the one who lives (zôn) otherwise (allōs), not from his occupations, but from fooling others

Comment

Compositional etymology starting from the last syllable, identified as the participle ζῶν "living" (see ἀλαζών / ἄλη + ζῶ), here to be understood as "to make a living". The first member is identified as the adjective ἄλλος (here under the form of the adverb ἄλλως): the braggart is the one who makes a leaving not as others do but otherwise. 

Parallels

Scholi. Aristophanem, Nub. 449d beta (recentiora) (ἀλαζών p.i.m.] ἐπηρμένος· ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴεσθαι τοῦτο<ν> ἄλλην ζωὴν ζῆν ἤγουν οὐ μετέχειν τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως)

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has αλαζόνας "braggart" as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre