καίω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
<κῆρ:> παρὰ τὴν καῦσιν. τὸ δὲ ἔμφυτον θερμόν φασιν εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν
Translation (En)
Kēr "heart": from the burning (kausin). For they say that the soul is the natural heat
Parallels
Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos, p. 3 (Κηρὸς Κηρ εἴδους τῶν παραγώγων; Παρωνύμου. Πόσα σημαίνει κήρ; Δύο· οὐδετέρως τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ γίνεται παρὰ τὸ δίκην κηροῦ ἀπομάττεσθαι τὰ μαθήματα, ἢ παρὰ τὸ κεκρᾶσθαι αὐτὴν ἐκ ψυχροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ, ἢ παρὰ τὸ καιρίαν δέχεσθαι τὴν πληγὴν, ἢ παρὰ τὸ κέαρ κῆρ· τοῦτο δὲ παρὰ τὸ κῶ τὸ καίω· (τὴν ψυχὴν γὰρ τὸ ἔμφυτον θερμὸν φασὶν εἶναι·)); Epimerismi homerici Îl. 1.44c2 (κῆρ: ἡ ψυχή· γέγονε δὲ παρὰ {τὸ} τὴν καῦσιν· τὸ γὰρ ἔμφυτον θερμὸν); Suda, kappa 1530 (Κῆρ: ψυχή· καὶ θανατηφόρος μοῖρα. καὶ κῆρες, θανατηφόροι μοῖραι. […] κῆρ δὲ ἡ ψυχή· ὅτι διάπυρος ἐστι. τὸ γὰρ ἔμφυτον θερμόν, τοῦτο ψυχή. εἰμὶ δὲ κῆρ τυμβοῦχος· ὁ δὲ κτείνας με Κόροιβος); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 511 (Κῆρ: Περισπωμένως σημαίνει τὴν ψυχὴν, γένους οὐδετέρου· γίνεται παρὰ τὸ κέαρ, ὃ δηλοῖ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχήν· γίνεται παρὰ τὸ κεκρᾶσθαι ἐκ ψυχροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ ἐπίσης ἔχοντος. Κέκραται δὲ ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων. Κῆρ δὲ, ἀπὸ τοῦ δίκην κηροῦ ἀπομάττεσθαι τὰ μαθήματα· ἢ παρὰ τὸ καιρίαν δέχεσθαι τὴν πληγήν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ καίω. Καὶ τί μετέχει; Τὸ γὰρ ἔμφυτον θερμὸν φασὶν εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν. Παρὰ τὴν καῦσιν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ κῶ, τὸ καίω, κέαρ· καὶ κατὰ συναίρεσιν, κῆρ· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔαρ, ὅ ἐστι πνεῦμα. Ἐκ τοῦ κῆρ κηρὸς κηρόθεν καὶ κηρόθι ἐπίρρημα, τὸ ἐκ ψυχῆς); Schol. Pindarum (recentiora), O. 1.6 (Διαφέρει ἦτορ καὶ κῆρ· ἦτορ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς δόξαντας τὴν ψυχὴν διαῤῥέουσαν καὶ φθινομένην ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄω τὸ πνέω· οὕτω γὰρ ἐδόξαζον πνεῦμα ταύτην εἶναι· κῆρ δὲ παρὰ τὸ καίω· κατὰ ἑτέρους γὰρ τὸ ζωτικὸν καὶ θερμὸν αἷμα ψυχή); Schol. Aeschylus, Prom. 437c (vetera) (Κέαρ παρὰ τὸ «κεκρᾶσθαι» ἐκ ψυχροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ, ἢ κατά τινας ἐκ τῶν δʹ στοιχείων. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ «καίω», τὸ ἐντόσθιον πῦρ. ἢ παρὰ τὸ «ἔαρ», ὃ σημαίνει κατά τινας μὲν τὸ αἷμα καθ’ ἑτέρους δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα· ἔαρ, ἆρ, καὶ κῆρ)
Bibliography
On the problem of etymology of polysemous words/homonyms, see Le Feuvre 2024 ("Multiple etymologies: Alternative, complementary, plural etymologies", in A. Zucker, C. Le Feuvre, M. Chriti (eds.), Ancient and Medieval Greek etymology. Theory and practice II, Berlin, de Gruyter, 2024, pp. 41–99, esp. pp. 62–70)
Comment
Derivational etymology, starting from the aorist of καίω, which is ἔκηα in Homer (this is explicit in some sources. Ἔκηα provides the sequence /kē/. The heart is assumed to be the seat of the internal heat of the human body. This same etymology was also assumed for κήρ "death", because corpses were burned during the funeral. It is therefore a case in which the polysemy of a word ("heart" and "death", which for us are two homonymous words but for Greek scholars were one single word with two different meanings) is solved by assuming a single etymology for both meanings (which I called "unifying approach" in le Feuvre 2024). The etymology may have been originally designed for κήρ "death"