δικεῖν + ἰχθύς
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
δίκτυον
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
diktuon
English translation (word)
fishing net
Transliteration (Etymon)
dikeîn + ikhthus
English translation (etymon)
to throw + fish
Source
idem
Ref.
Scholia et glossae in Halieutica (scholia vetera et recentiora) 3.83
Ed.
U.C. Bussemaker, Scholia et paraphrases in Nicandrum et Oppianum in Scholia in Theocritum (ed. F. Dübner), Paris: Didot, 1849: 260-364
Quotation
δίκτυον δὲ λέγεται ἀπὸ τοῦ δίκω τὸ τιτρώσκω καὶ τοῦ ἰχθὺς, τὸ τιτρῶσκον τοὺς ἰχθύας καὶ βάλλον
Translation (En)
Diktuon "fishing net" is thus called from dikō "to wound" and ikhthus "fish", the one wounding fish and reaching it
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, delta, p. 365 (Δίκ⟦τυον⟧· π⟦αρὰ τὸ δί⟧κω, τὸ ῥίπτω, ⟦δίσκος, ὁ ῥιπτόμενος, καὶ τὸ κατὰ τῶν ἰχθύων ῥιπτόμενον δίχθυον καὶ δίκτυον⟧); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 275 (Δίκτυον: Παρὰ τὸ δίκεσθαι τοὺς ἰχθύας ἐν αὐτῷ, ὅ ἐστι βάλλεσθαι. Δίκω, τὸ βάλλω, δίκυον, καὶ δίκτυον κατὰ πλεονασμόν. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δίκω, τὸ ῥίπτω, δίκος, ὁ ῥιπτούμενος· καὶ τὸ κατὰ τῶν ἰχθύων ῥιπτούμενον, δίχθυον, καὶ δίκτυον. Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ δίκτυον κατὰ ἀποκοπὴν γίνεται δίκτυ)
Modern etymology
Unclear. Mycenaean has de-ku-tu-wo-ko, probably /dektu-worgos/, therefore a *δεκτυ. This does not agree with the traditional derivation from δικεῖν (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has δίκτυο
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology, in which the first member is identified as δικεῖν as in the standard etymology (see δίκτυον / δικεῖν) and the second member as the name of the fish. This requires a formal change of /th/ into /t/ – explicit in the Etym. Magnum. The fishing net is "thrown at fish". The scullion to Oppian provides for δικεῖν the gloss "to wound", rather than "to throw", which is rejected at the end of the explanation (βάλλον). Yet the net does not wound the animal, nor does δικεῖν mean "to wound", and the gloss τιτρώσκω is inappropriate. The wording is better in the Etym. Magnum (see Parallels)