θεός + πίπτω

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Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:35

Word-form

θεσπέσιος

Transliteration (Word)

thespesios

English translation (word)

divine, wonderful

Transliteration (Etymon)

theos + piptō

English translation (etymon)

god + to fall

Author

Orion

Century

5 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etymologicum, theta, p. 71

Ed.

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

Quotation

Θεσπεσία. οἷον θεοπεσία. παρὰ τὸ πεσεῖν, ἢ ἥδεσθαι καὶ ἐπακολουθεῖν θεοῖς

Translation (En)

Thespesia "divine will", *theopesia, as it were. From pesein "to fall", or from "to please" and "to accompany" (epakolouthein) the gods

Comment

Compositional etymology. The second member of the compound is identified as the verb "to fall", under the future form πεσέομαι. What is divine is what comes down, that is, falls, from the gods.

Parallels

bT Schol. Il. 17.118 (<θεσπέσιον:> τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ πίπτοντα); Eustathius, Exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem 1.172 (Ἡ δὲ ῥηθεῖσα θέσπις φωνή, θεία ἑρμηνευομένη, κατὰ τὸ φερέσβιον πλεονάζει τῷ ἡμιφώνῳ καθὰ καὶ τὸ θεσπέσιον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. τὸ γὰρ ἐντελὲς θέσπις ἐστί, διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ἔπεσθαι ἤγουν λέγεσθαι θεολογικώτερον· ὅμοιον δὲ καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος λόγος· πρᾶγμα μέντοι ἄλλως θεσπέσιον, ὡς ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πεσὸν εἰς ἡμᾶς); id., Comm. Il., vol. 1, p. 463 (Θεσπεσίαν δὲ ἀοιδὴν ἔφη οὐκ ἀργῶς, ἀλλὰ οἱονεὶ λέγων, ὅτι θεοῦ δῶρον οὖσαν θεὸς αὖθις ἀφείλετο ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλαζόνος. ἔστι δὲ νῦν θεσπεσία οὐχὶ ἡ θεόθεν πεσοῦσα, ἀλλ’ ἣν θεὸς εἴποι ἄν, τουτέστιν ᾄσοι· ταὐτὸν γάρ ποτε τὸ ἐνέπειν καὶ τὸ ἀείδειν); ibid., vol. 1, p. 493 (Θεσπέσιος δὲ πλοῦτος ἢ ὁ πολύς, ὃν θεὸς ἂν εἴποι, ἢ μᾶλλον ὁ ἐκ θεοῦ πεσὼν ἤτοι χεθείς, ὅθεν καὶ οἱ διϊπετεῖς γίνονται ποταμοί); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 447 (Θεσπέσιος: Παρὰ τὸ θεὸς καὶ τὸ πέτω, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ πίπτω, (οὗ ὁ μέλλων πέσω,) γίνεται πέσιος, καὶ θεοσπέσιος· καὶ συγκοπῇ, θεσπέσιος, ὁ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ πεσών. Ἢ θεῖος καὶ θαυμαστός. Παρὰ τὸ ἕπεσθαι θεῷ· καὶ θεσπεσία, θεία, θαυμαστὴ, οἱονεὶ θεοσπεσία· παρὰ τὸ σπέσθαι καὶ ἐπακολουθεῖν θεοῖς. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ πεσεῖν, θεοσπεσία τίς. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ θέσπις); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, theta, p. 1036 (Θεσπέσια. θεῖα. θαυμαστά. οἱονεὶ θεοπέσια τινὰ ὄντα, παρὰ τὸ πεσεῖν, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἕπεσθαι τῷ θεῷ); Schol. in Lucianum (scholia vetera et recentiora Arethae) 67.1 (θεσπέσιον*] θέσπιον, θεῖον, θαυμαστόν, πρᾷον, θεοῦ νομοθέτημα, ἐκ θεοῦ πεσόν)

Modern etymology

Compound of θεός "god" + verbal adjective *σπετός "uttered" (cf. ἄσπετος "unspeakable"), from *sekw- "to speak" (ἔννεπε, ἕσπετε, Lat. inquit) (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has θεσπέσιος "extraordinarily beautiful" as a learned word

Entry By

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