δύο + ἅμα
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
γάμος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
gamos
English translation (word)
marriage
Transliteration (Etymon)
duo + hama
English translation (etymon)
two + together
Century
9 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, gamma 15
Ed.
A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2], Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995: 59-761.
Quotation
γάμος: παρὰ τὸ δαμῶ δάμος καὶ γάμος. ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ <καὶ> παρὰ τὸ δύο ἅμα εἶναι, κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ δ εἰς γ.
Translation (En)
Gamos "marriage" is from damō "to tame", *damos, and gamos. There is also another etymology, from "being two together" (duo hama), through change of the [d] into [g].
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, gamma p. 297 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 220 (idem); Scholia in Oppianum, Halieutica, 1, 570 (γάμος παρὰ τὸ δαμῶ τὸ δαμάζω· δάμος καὶ γάμος, ὁ δαμαστικὸς τῶν θηλειῶν, ὅθεν καὶ τὰς παρθένους ἀδαμάστους Ὅμηρος καλεῖ (Od. ζ 109), οἷον «παρθένος ἀδμής,» οἱ δὲ παρὰ τὸ γεννᾷν γάμος, ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ καὶ παρὰ τὸ δύο ἅμα εἶναι κατὰ μετάθεσιν τοῦ δ εἰς γ)
Modern etymology
The group of γάμος, γαμέω has no cognate outside Greek (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word is still used in MG to designate 1. one of the seven mysteries of the church, 2. the legal unification of a man and a woman, 3. the marital life, the coexistence of husband and wife (Triandafyllidis Dict. of MG)
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
The word is analyzed as a compound, in a descriptive etymology since marriage involves two people. Formally, it implies some manipulations: all that is left from δύο "two" is the [d], which itself is changed into [g], while ἅμα is supposed to account for the [am].