Ζεύς + ὕω

Validation

No

Last modification

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:25

Word-form

δρόσος

Transliteration (Word)

drosos

English translation (word)

dew

Transliteration (Etymon)

Zeus + huō

English translation (etymon)

Zeus + to rain

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos, p. 183

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford, 1842

Quotation

Δρόσος, παρὰ τὸ ῥέω, ῥόσος καὶ δρόσος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ Ζεὺς, Διὸς, καὶ τὸ δεύω τὸ ὁρμῶ καὶ βρέχω, δίοσος καὶ δρόασος, ἢ παρὰ τὸ δρῶ τὸ πράττω, ἡ σώους δρόωσα τοὺς καρπούς.

Translation (En)

Drosos "dew", from rheō "to flow", *rhosos and drosos. Or from Zeus, Dios, and deuō which means "to rush forward" and "to rain", *diosos and *droasos, or from drō "to act", the one making (droōsa) the crops healthy (sōous)

Comment

Compositional etymology, corrupt in Choeroboscus. His wording mixes the etymology by Ζεύς + σεύω (see δρόσος / Ζεύς + σεύω) with the etymology by ὕω (see δρόσος / ὕω). The δεύω "to wet" results from an alternation of σεύω, and because of its meaning it was glossed by βρέχω "to rain", which belongs with the etymology δρόσος / ὕω. Therefore, Choeroboscus' notice conflates two etymologies into one, and makes the explanation confuse.

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, delta, p. 380 (Δρόσος· κατὰ παράλειψιν τοῦ ι· [δίοσις] ἡ ὑπὸ Διὸς ὑομένη, δίοσ<ός τ>ις οὖσα, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ καὶ συγκοπῇ τοῦ ι δρόσος)

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has δρόσος as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre