πίνω

Validation

Yes

Word-form

πόντος

Transliteration (Word)

pontos

English translation (word)

sea

Transliteration (Etymon)

pinō

English translation (etymon)

to drink

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 180

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1842: 1-192.

Quotation

Πόντος: παρὰ τὸ πῶμι, πώσω, πέπωκα, πέπομαι, πέποσαι, πέποται· ἢ παρὰ τὸ πίνω, ὁ πίνων τοὺς κινδυνεύοντας· ἢ παρὰ τὸ πνέω, πνότος, καὶ μεταθέσει πόντος, ὁ καταπνεόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων

Translation (En)

Pontos "sea" : from pōmi, pōsō, pepōka, pepomai, peposai, pepotai; or from pinō "to drink", that which swallows those who risk themselves in it. Or from pneō "to blow", *pnotos, and through metathesis pontos, that on which the winds blow

Comment

This etymology appears late enough, it starts from the stem po- which is found in the passive perfect petomai of pinō "to drink", and also in the verbal adjective ποτός "drinkable", hence the many derivatives ποτόν, ποτίζω, ποτήριον etc. This etymology requires a formal manipulation, the adjunction of an [n], which is not explicit in the Eym. Magnum. From the semantic point of view, it relies on a transfer from the swallowed liquid to the swallowing liquid, the sea, which swallows men and ships. The etymology from pinō and from *pōmi are one and the same, as *pōmi is a ghost-word meant to explain the stem pō- found in the perfect pepōka and the Aeolic present pōnō

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 682 (Πόντος: Σημαίνει τὴν θάλασσαν· ἀπὸ τοῦ πνέω· ἐν ᾗ αἱ πνοαὶ καὶ οἱ ἄνεμοι φέρονται. Ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ πόνος πόντος, καθ’ ὃν πεπόνηται περὶ τὸν πλοῦν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος. Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνέω πνότος καὶ πόντος, ἐξ οὗ αἱ πνοαὶ γεννῶνται· Ὅμηρος. Αἶψα δὲ πόντον ἵκανον ἀήμεναι. Καὶ πόνων ἐπώνυμος ὁ πόντος. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ πίνω, ὁ πίνων τοὺς κινδυνεύοντας. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ πέποται, ἀπὸ τοῦ πῶμι)

Modern etymology

Πόντος "sea" is an old noun meaning "way", cognate with Latin pons, pontis "bridge", Ru. put' "way", and Sanscrite pantha- "way", from PIE *ponth2o- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Ποντος is used in Modern Greek to designate 1. the 'big, open sea', 2. (as a proper name) the region on the S-E coast of the Black Sea (Εύξεινος πόντος after its Ancient Greek name, or Μαὐρη θάλασσα) (Triandafyllidis, Dict. of MG)

Entry By

Le Feuvre