ῥέζω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Ἰστέον δὲ ὡς, εἰ κατὰ κοινὴν ἐτυμολογίαν ἔρση, ἡ δρόσος, γίνεται ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρδω, ἄρσω, ὡς τὰ περὶ γῆν ποτίζουσα, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἔρᾳ σεύεσθαι, ψιλοῖτο ἂν καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ ἡ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς κατὰ πλεονασμὸν γινομένη ἐέρση. πρὸς ὅπερ ἀντιφωνεῖ τὸ «λωτόν θ’ ἑρσήεντα», καὶ τὸ «χωρὶς δ’ αὖθ’ ἕρσαι», ὡς ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ κεῖται. ἀπὸ τούτων γὰρ δασύνεσθαι ἡ ἕρση δείκνυται. διὸ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥέζω, τὸ πράττω, γίνεται κατὰ μετάθεσιν ἕρζω, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἕρση καὶ ἑέρση, ἡ ἀνυστικὴ καὶ δραστική, ἵνα οὕτω δασύνοιντο διὰ τὴν θεματικὴν δασεῖαν
Translation (En)
You must know that according to the usual etymology, ersē "dew" comes from ardō "to water", <future> arsō, as the now watering the earthly things, or from "to rush" (seuesthai) to earth (erai): if so, it should have a smooth breathing, as the form eersē derived from it by addition. This is contradicted by ‘lōton th' hersēenta’ ("lotos full of dew", Il. 14.348), and ‘khōris d' auth' hersai’ ("and separately again the dewdrops", Od. 9.222), as found in the Odyssey. Thes show that hersē has a rough breathing. For that reason we may say that from rhezō "to act", comes by metathesis *herzō, and from the latter hersē and heersē, the one that achieves and acts. They have a rough breathing because their base has a rough breathing
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, epsilon, p. 517 (Ἕρδω· σημαίνει βʹ· τὸ ποτίζω, οὗ ὁ μέλλων ἕρσω, ἐξ οὗ ἕρσαι αἱ δρόσοι, αἱ ἐν τῷ ἕρσει τῆς γῆς ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐν τῇ δρόσῳ καὶ πιότητι· καὶ ἔρδω, τὸ πράττω, ὅπερ γέγονε παρὰ τὸ ῥέζω)
Comment
Derivational etymology. Eustathius rejects two older etymologies by arguing that if they were correct, the word should have a smooth breathing, instead of a rough one—warranted by Homer. He therefore derives ἕρση from the verb ῥέζω, a variant of ἔρδω, meaning "to act, to do", because any word with initial /r/ has an aspiration. Then he assumes a metathesis, hence /rhe/ > /her/. This etymology is semantically difficult because dew does not "achieve" anything or "act" in any way. It is a case when form prevails over meaning (the other etymologies, rejected by Eustathius, are based on semantics)