ὄσσα
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Reference
Edition
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Ὦτα. Ἀπολλόδωρος μὲν, ἀπὸ τοῦ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄσσαν· οἱ δὲ, δι’ ὧν ὠθεῖται ἡ φωνή· οἱ δὲ, κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ π εἰς τ. ὠπά τινα ὄντα, παρὰ τὸ ὀπὰς ἔχειν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄπα, ὅ ἐστι φωνήν. Ἡρακλείδης
Translation (En)
Ōta "ears": Apollodorus says it comes from the fact that they receive the voice (ossan). Others, that they are that through which the voice is pushed (ōtheitai). Others, by change of /p/ into /t/, that they are a kind of *ōpa, from the fact they have holes (opas). Or from the fact that they receive the opa, that is, the voice. Heraclides
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, omega, p. 583 (Ὦτα, παρὰ τὸ ὠθούμενον καὶ εἱλικτὸν εἰσέρχεσθαι ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ πνεῦμα, ἤτοι ἄνεμον, καὶ πάντα ἦχον. Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄσσαν· οἱ δὲ δι’ ὧν ὠθεῖται ἡ φωνὴ, οἱ δὲ κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ π εἰς τ, ὤπα τινα ὄντα, παρὰ τὸ ὀπὰς ἔχειν, ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄπα, ὅ ἐστι τὴν φωνήν· οὕτως Ἡρακλείδης); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 825 (Ὦτα: Ἀπολλόδωρος μὲν, ἀπὸ τοῦ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄσσαν· οἱ δὲ, δι’ ὧν ὠθεῖται ἡ φωνή. Οἱ δὲ φασὶ, κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ π εἰς τ, ὄπα τινὰ ὄντα, παρὰ τὸ ὀπὰς ἔχειν. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄπα, ὅ ἐστι τὴν φωνήν. Οὕτως Ἡρακλείδης); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, omega, p. 1897 (Ὦτα. τὰ ὦτα. Ἀπολλόδωρος παρὰ τὸ δέχεσθαι τὴν ὄσσαν. οἱ δὲ, δι’ ὧν ὠθεῖται ἡ φωνή. οἱ δὲ κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ π εἰς τ, ὦπα τινὰ ὄντα, παρὰ τὸ ὀπὰς τινὰ ἔχειν)
Comment
Derivational functional etymology: the ears are the organ of hearing, and they perceive sounds and voices. The etymology relies on a metonymy between the perceiving organ (the ear) and the perceived sound (the voice). It is interesting from the formal point of view for several reasons. Firstly, the etymology is designed in order to account for the plural ὦτα, not the singular οὖς, whereas as a rule the lemma is provided under the form of the nominative singular. And the etymon itself is probably not ὄσσα, as Orion has it, but the Attic equivalent ὄττα, found once in Plato (Laws 800c), and phonetically matching ὦτα at a time when the phonological opposition between /ō and /ŏ/ was lost, and so was presumably the opposition between geminate /tt/ and simple /t/. Both ὦτα and ὄττα were pronounces [ota]. The fact that Orion (and maybe Apollodorus before him) mentions the etymon under its non-Attic form makes the etymology less clear. This etymology probably relies on the co-occurrence of the two words in Hesiod, Th. 701 ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἰδεῖν ἠδ’ οὔασιν ὄσσαν ἀκοῦσαι