νέομαι
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
νότος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
notos
English translation (word)
South wind
Transliteration (Etymon)
neomai
English translation (etymon)
to come back
Century
12 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Comm. Il., vol. 2, p. 472
Ed.
M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, vols. 1-4, Leiden: Brill, 1:1971; 2:1976; 3:1979; 4:1987
Quotation
Τὸ δὲ «νεώμεθα» δῆλον ὡς θέμα ἐστὶ τοῦ νόστου. ἐκ τοῦ νέεσθαι γὰρ νότος, καὶ πρὸς διαστολὴν τοῦ ἀνέμου νόστος
Translation (En)
The verb neōmetha "we would come back" is obviously the derivation base of nostos "return". For from neesthai comes notos "South wind", and by expansion of the name of the wind, nostos.
Parallels
Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, nu, p. 1405 (Νότος. ὁ κατὰ μεσημβρίαν τόπος. καὶ ὁ ἄνεμος. [ἀπὸ τοῦ νεῖσθαι, ὅ ἐστι διέρχεσθαι καὶ πορεύεσθαι.])
Modern etymology
Probably cognate with Arm. nay "wet, fluid" < *noto- (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology, in which the name of the South wind is assumed to provide the intermediate step between νέομαι "to return" and νόστος "return". Eustathius is right on one point: νέομαι and νόστος belong together, but he is wrong when he inserts the name of the South wind in this derivation. This etymology is in fact much older than Eustathius, as it was proposed by Heraclides (2 AD) for the derivative νοτίς "moisture". Heraclides thought that the chain was νέομαι → νοτίς → νοτέω → νότος, and did not derive the latter directly from νέομαι. Eustathius skips the intermediate steps in Heraclides' derivation. The idea underlying this etymology is that the south wind "goes" or "goes back"