ἀλγεινός
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
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Ed.
Quotation
(Etym. Gen.) Ἀλεγεινός (Ν 596)· παρὰ τὸ ἄλγος ἀλγεινός, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ε ἀλεγεινός. οὕτως Ὠρίων
Translation (En)
Alegeinos "painful": from algos "pain", algeinos, and by addition of /e/, alegeinos. Thus Orion
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 58 (Ἀλεγεινῆς: Ἀλγεινῆς, χαλεπῆς. Οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλέγω ἀλεγεινὸς, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλεῶ ἐλεεινός· ἐπειδὴ ὤφειλε γράφεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ι· τὰ γὰρ εἰς ΝΟΣ ὀξύτονα, μὴ ὄντα παρώνυμα, διὰ τοῦ ἰῶτα γράφονται· οἷον τάχα ταχινὸς, πύκα πυκινὸς, ἀληθὲς ἀληθινὸς, χθὲς χθεσινός· ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινὸς, καὶ ἀλεγεινός· καὶ ἔλεος, ἐλεεινὸς, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ε. Καὶ γράφεται διὰ διφθόγγου, ὡς παρώνυμον)
Bibliography
On the detail of the semantic and formal evolution of ἀλέγω, ἄλγος, -ηλεγής in Greek, see Claire Le Feuvre, Ὅμηρος δύσγνωστος. Réinterprétations de termes homériques à date archaïque et classique. Geneva, Droz, 2015. Pp. 203–254 [however, the Germanic comparanda mentioned are probably not related]. Ἀλεγεινός is derived from an old noun *ἄλεγος, preserved in compounds in -ηλεγής (Homer). This *ἄλεγος "pain" matches the verb ἀλέγω which originally means "to suffer". Later one, but in pre-Homeric times, *ἄλεγος was remodeled into ἄλγος, and consequently, its derivative ἀλεγεινός was remodeled into ἀλγεινός. The verb "to suffer" was replaced by the new verb ἀλγέω, derived from ἄλγος, and the old ἀλέγω, left alone, was specialized in the negative phrase οὐκ ἀλέγω "I don't care" (originally "I don't suffer, it does not hurt"), with a secondary evolved meaning.
Comment
Derivational etymology, on the purely formal problem of the priority between the Homeric form ἀλεγεινός and the Ionic form ἀλγεινός, both meaning "painful". The traditional view assumes that the Homeric form is derived from the Ionic one by a pathos, the addition of a vowel. The reverse derivation assumes that the Ionic form is derived from the Homeric one by a different pathos, a syncope (see ἀλγεινός / ἀλεγεινός)