πέρας
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
παρειά
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
pareia
English translation (word)
cheek
Transliteration (Etymon)
peras
English translation (etymon)
limit, end
Century
9 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
De natura hominis, p. 77
Ed.
J. A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, vol. 3, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1836 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1963)
Quotation
παρειὰ δὲ παρὰ τὸ πεπερατοῦσθαι
Translation (En)
And pareia "cheek" comes from the fact that it is limited (peperatousthai)
Parallels
Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 48 (καὶ παρειὰν παρὰ τὸ περατοῦσθαι)
Modern etymology
Compound of παρά + οὖς "ear", under the archaic form *αὖς (cf. Lat. auris). The cheek is "along the ear" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has παρειά as a learned word, or a technical word referring to the "cheeks" of a vase. The usual word is μάγουλο
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational descriptive etymology. The cheek is the part between the nose and the ear, which mark the limit. Although Meletius' wording uses the verb περατόω, the real etymon must be πέρας rather than περατόω, and from πέρας one obtains παρειἀ by a metathesis of the vowels.