δίω

Validation

No

Last modification

Mon, 08/26/2024 - 09:40

Word-form

δεῖσα

Transliteration (Word)

deisa

English translation (word)

slime, filth

Transliteration (Etymon)

diō

English translation (etymon)

to put to flight

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, p. 263

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848

Quotation

Δεῖσα: Ἡ ὑγρασία, ὁ ὑγρώδης καὶ βοτανώδης τόπος. Παρὰ τὸν δεύσω μέλλοντα (σημαίνει τὸ βρέχω) γίνεται δεῦσα καὶ δεῖσα, ἡ δυσωδία. Εἴρηται παρὰ τὸ δίω τὸ διὰ τοῦ ι γραφόμενον, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ φοβοῦμαι· ἵν’ ᾖ δίσα, ἡ δυσοσμία, ἣν φεύγομεν. Εἴτε οὖν διὰ τοῦ ι, εἴτε διὰ τῆς ΕΙ διφθόγγου, τὸ δίω καὶ δείω διφορεῖται· ὅθεν δέος καὶ δίος διὰ τοῦ ι. Ὅθεν, ‘Τρὶς περὶ ἄστυ [μέγα] Πριάμου δίον’

Translation (En)

Deisa "slime", the moisture, the swampy place, providing fodder. From the future deusō (it means "to rain") comes *deusa and deisa, the bad smell. It <also> gets its name from diō, which is spelled with /I/, meaning "to be afraid": accordingly it is *disa, the bad smell, which we flee. Thus, either with /I/, or with the diphthong /ei/, there are two different verbs, diō and deiō, from which come deos "fear" and dios, with /I/. From there, tris peri astu [mega] Priamou dion "I fled three times around the great city of Priam" (Il. 22.251)

Comment

Derivational etymology, designed in a ioticizing linguistic stage. The diphthong /ei/ was pronounced [I], which allowed the derivation of δεῖσα "filth" from a Homeric verb meaning "to flee" or "to frighten". Semantically, the etymology is difficult: the intermediate step is the notion of unpleasant smell of filth, which turns us away, but the notion "smell" belongs neither to the lemma nor to the etymon

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre