This etymology relies on a phonetic manipulation, and on the many cases of alternation between an aspirate voiceless stop and a non aspirate one, consequence of the aspiration dissimilation (Grassmann's law), of the type τρέφω / ἔθρεψα. From the semantic point of view, it starts from the idea that "just" is "middle", neither too much nor too little, and that the middle is what separates something into two equal halves. Interestingly, this definition fits for the adjective δίκαιος "just", but not very well for the noun δίκη "justice", which may be why Aristotle etymologizes the adjective and not the noun. The explicit link between δίκη and δἰχα is attested only later (se under δίκη)