ἕλος + φαίνω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ἐλεφάντων
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
elephas
English translation (word)
elephant
Transliteration (Etymon)
helos + phainō
English translation (etymon)
swamp + to appear
Century
11 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etymologica nominum 320
Ed.
R. Reitzenstein, M. Terentius Varro und Johannes Mauropus von Euchaita: eine Studie zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft, Leipzig: Teubner, 1901
Quotation
Ἕλη δὲ φαίνει τὴν ἐλεφάντων ἄγραν.
Translation (En)
Swamps (helē) show (phainei) the capture of elephants (elephantōn)
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Loanword (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has ελέφας or (more common) ελέφαντας
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology. Neither of the assumed etyma has anything to do with the animal. The swamps are peripheral and are found in another compositional etymology, where ἕλος has the function of a locative ἐν ἕλει (see ἐλέφας / ἕλος + βαίνω). Here, instead, the structure of the compound is SV, and ἕλος is assumed to be the subject of the verb φαίνει. The swamps can show virtually anything without any relationship with the elephant, yet this did not bother Mauropus