χαίνω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Χαλινά. τὰ ὑποκάτω τῶν γνάθων, οἷον χαιλινά τινα ὄντα, ὅτι χαίνονται δι’ αὐτῶν […]. Σωρανὸς οὕτως.
Translation (En)
And xhalinoi "corner of the mouth", the lower jaw, *khailinoi, as it were, because they produce the gaping (khainontai) […]. This is what Soranus says
Parallels
Orion, Etymologicum, gamma, p. 40 (Γνάθος, παρὰ τὴν γνάψιν καὶ κλάσιν. χαλινοὶ δὲ ὅτι δι’ αὐτῶν τὸ χαίνειν γίνεται); Meletius, De natura hominis, p. 76 (χαλινὸς δὲ, ὅτι δι’ αὐτῶν χαίνειν γίνεται· οἱ δέ φασι, χαλινούς τινας εἶναι· χαίνοντες γὰρ αὐτοὺς τὴν αἴσθησιν ποιούμεθα τῶν εἰσφερομένων); Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 47 (τὰ ὑποκάτω τοῦ ὠτὸς γνάθοι λέγονται καὶ χαλινοί· ἐκ τοῦ γνάθον γνάψαι καὶ κάμψαι· χαλινοὶ δέ, ὅτι δι’ αὐτῶν χαίνειν γίνεται); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 805 (Χαλινός: Χανινός τις ὢν, παρὰ τὸ χαίνειν, ὅτι δι’ αὐτοῦ χαίνειν γίνεται· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἲς ἰνὸς καὶ τὸ χαλῶ, τὸ πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν χαλώμενον); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, chi, p. 1839 (Χαλινός. παρὰ τὸ χαίνειν, ὅτι δι’ αὐτοῦ χαίνειν γίνεται. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἲς, ἰνὸς, καὶ τὸ χαλῶ γίνεται χαλινός)
Comment
Derivational etymology,designes in order to account for a secondary meaning of χαλινός. The proper meaning is "bit", and from there in the plural χαλινοί refers to the corner of the horse's mouth, where the bit is fitted. By extension, it refers to the commissar of lips in a human being. It is a functional etymology: the commissure opens and closes and its function is to allow the opening of the mouth (χαίνω). We do not know whether Soranus provided a different etymology for the proper meaning "bit of a horse" – for which this etymology cannot be valid – or not. Anyway, his treatise was about the etymologies of the anatomical lexicon of the human body. Therefore he may have dispensed with accounting for the meaning "bit", which does not belong to the vocabulary of human anatomy