εἶμι

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Sun, 08/25/2024 - 15:35

Word-form

ἰνίον

Transliteration (Word)

inion

English translation (word)

occiput

Transliteration (Etymon)

eimi

English translation (etymon)

to go

Author

Orion

Century

5 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etymologicum, iota, p. 76

Ed.

F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, Weigel, 1820

Quotation

Ἰνίον. ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ καταβάσει τῇ ἀπὸ τῆς κορυφῆς κάτω ἰέναι. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐντεῦθεν ἄρχεσθαι τὰς ἴνας, τουτέστι τὰ νεῦρα· ἐπειδή περ ἴεται διὰ τοῦ σώματος

Translation (En)

Inion "occiput", from the fact that it goes (ienai) downward in the downward path from the summit. Or from the fact that the Ines, that is, the nerves, start from there, since it sends them through the body

Comment

Derivational etymology. The occiput is etymologized by reference to its position: when one goes from head to toe, the occiput is the first downward step after the head. The etymology is shaky both formally (the infinitive ἰέναι provides the /I/ and the /n/, assuming the /e/ is dropped) and semantically (the occiput does not "go", at best the description of the body "goes" from one part of the body to the other

Parallels

Meletius, De natura hominis, p. 54 (idem); Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 28 (idem);Etym. Magnum, Kallireges, p. 470 (idem); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, iota, p. 1110 (Ἰνίον. νεῦρον, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου βάσεως ἐπὶ τὰ πλατέα νεῦρα, ἃ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἡμῶν ἔχειν δοκεῖ)

Modern etymology

Ἰνίον is a derivative of ἴς "sinew" < *wiH- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has ἰνίο "occiput" as a scientific word

Entry By

Le Feuvre