ἕνωσις

Validation

No

Last modification

Tue, 08/27/2024 - 11:25

Word-form

ἡνίαι

Transliteration (Word)

hēnia

English translation (word)

reins

Transliteration (Etymon)

henōsis

English translation (etymon)

union

Author

Orion

Century

5AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etymologicum, eta, p. 67

Ed.

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

Quotation

Ἡνίαι. παρὰ τὸ ἐνίεσθαι, ἢ παρὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῶν ὑποζυγίων.

Translation (En)

Hēniai "reins", from eniesthai "to be thrown into". Or from the union (henōsin) of the yoked animals

Comment

Derivational functional etymology, keeping as usual the beginning of the etymon and dropping the end. The real etymon may be the verb ἐνόω "to unite" rather than the action noun ἔνωσις. It requires a lengthening of the initial /e/. The etymology would semantically be more appropriate for the yoke, uniting the horses. It can be transposed to the reins by metonymy, since yoke and harness belong to the same semantic field and are more or less contiguous.

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum,eta, p. 245 (Ἡνία, τὰ λῶρα, οἱ χαλινοὶ, παρὰ τὸ ἑνεῖσθαι, ἐπὶ ἑνώσει τῶν ὑποζυγίων. καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀπηνὴς καὶ ἀφηνιῶ); Eustathius, Comm. Il.,vol. 3, p. 886 (καιριωτάτη δὲ καὶ νῦν λέξις τὸ «σύγχυτο», ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀντίκειται ἡ σύγχυσις τῇ ἑνώσει, καθ’ ἣν τὰ ἡνία λέγεται. ); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 432 (Ἡνία: Λῶρα, χαλινούς· παρὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν· ἑνοῦται γὰρ δι’ αὐτῶν τὰ ὑποζύγια. Ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνίεσθαι ἢ ἀνίεσθαι· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνύω, δι’ ἧς ἀνύομεν τοὺς ἵππους πρὸς τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὁδόν. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ εἷς ἑνὸς, ἑνία καὶ ἡνία. Ἢ παρὰ τὸν ἥσω μέλλοντα); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, eta, p. 996 (Ἡνία. τὰ λῶρα. παρὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῶν ὑποζυγίων, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνίεσθαι, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀνύω ἀνύα, δι’ ὧν ἀνύομεν τοὺς ἵππους πρὸς τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὁδόν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ εἷς ἑνὸς, ἑνία καὶ ἡνία, διὸ καὶ δασύνεται)

Modern etymology

Cognate with the Celtic word for "reins". PIE *h2ens-io- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has ηνίο as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre