σοφός
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
σαφής
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
saphēs
English translation (word)
clear
Transliteration (Etymon)
sophos
English translation (etymon)
clever, wise
Century
11 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum, signa, p. 497
Ed.
F.W. Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum et alia grammaticorum scripta e codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum edita, Leipzig: Weigel, 1818 (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973): 229-584
Quotation
Σαφῶς, ἐκ τοῦ σαφὴς, τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ σαφῶ τὸ ἑρμηνεύω, τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ σοφὸς, τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ σέβω σοβὸς καὶ σοφός· τὸν γὰρ σοφὸν πάντες σεβόμεθα.
Translation (En)
Saphôs "clearly", from saphēs "clear". The latter from sapheõ "to explain", the latter from sophos "wise", the latter from sebō "to revere", *sobos and sophos – for we all revere the wise one
Parallels
There is no parallel.
It is unclear whether we are dealing with a pun or an implicit etymology in Euripides' Orestes 397 σοφόν τοι τὸ σαφές, οὐ τὸ μὴ σαφές. Aristophanes' Ran. 1434 ὁ μὲν σοφῶς γὰρ εἶπεν, ὁ δ’ ἕτερος σαφῶς is probably a mere wordplay
Modern etymology
Unknown (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has σαφής "clear, unambiguous" as a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology, relying on the identical shape of the two words, both disyllabic with the same consonants and different vowels. The change of vowels is assumed to be a regular pathos (not explicit in the wording of the Gudianum). In order to bridge the semantic gap, the verb is adduced as an intermediate step: the wise man is able to explain things, which thereby become clear. Technically, the derivation is σοφός → σαφέω → σαφής.