παρά + οὐδείς
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Παρθένος: Παρὰ τὸ παρακαταθέειν τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ παραθέειν τῇ μητρὶ, ὡς ὁ ποιητὴς, ‘ἥθ’ ἅμα μητρὶ θέουσ’ ἀνελέσθαι ἀνώγει’. ἢ παρὰ τὸν θήσω μέλλοντα γίνεται θήνη· καὶ μετὰ τῆς παρὰ προθέσεως, παραθήνη· καὶ κατὰ συγκοπὴν, παρθένος, ἡ περὶ ταύτην τὴν ἡλικίαν οὖσα, καθ’ ἣν ὥραν ἔχει ἐκθρέψαι καὶ ἐκτῆσθαι μαζοὺς, ἣν ἡ φύσις ἔταξε. Τὰς γοῦν μικρὰς παῖδας οὐ προσαγορεύουσι παρθένους, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἤδη ἐπὶ τὸ γυναῖκας μέλλειν ἰούσας. Οὕτως Φιλόξενος· ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλείδης, ἡ παρ’ οὐδενὸς οὐδὲν λαβοῦσα εἰς ἕδνα
Translation (En)
Parthenos "virgin": from the fact that she is running out of childhood. Or from the fact that she runs by her mother's side, as Homer "who, running after her mother and begs to be picked up and carried" (Il. 16.8, Lattimore's transl.). Or from the future thēsō "I will breast-feed" comes "breast", and with the prefix, *parathēnē, and through syncope, parthenos, the one who is in the age in which she will grow and develop the breasts which nature gave her. As a matter of fact, one does not call the small girls parthenous, but only those who are ready to become women. This is what Philoxenus says. But Heraclides says that she is the one who receives nothing from anybody (par' oudenos) as a dowry
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, pi, p. 454 (Παρθένος, παρὰ τὸ παραθέειν τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ θείνω τὸ φονεύω, θένος, καὶ μετὰ τῆς παρὰ προθέσεως παράθενος, καὶ ἐν συγκοπῇ παρθένος, ἡ τὸ πῦρ τῆς πυρώσεως θανατοῦσα. ἢ παρὰ τὸν θήσω μέλλοντα, τὸν δηλοῦντα τὸ θηλάσω, γυναῖκα με θήσατο μαζῶ, ῥηματικὸν ὄνομα θήνη, καὶ ἐν συγκοπῇ καὶ τροπῇ παρθένος· ἡ περὶ ταύτην τὴν ἡλικίαν γεννηθεῖσα, καθ’ ἣν ὥραν ἔχει ἐκτρίψαι τὸ καὶ κεκτῆσθαι μαζοὺς οὓς ἡ φύσις ἔταξε· τὰς γοῦν μικρὰς παῖδας οὐ προσαγορεύομαι παρθένους, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἤδη ἐπὶ τὸ γυναῖκας εἶναι, οὔσας· οἱ δὲ φασὶ, ἡ παρ’ οὐδενὸς οὐδὲν λαβοῦσα εἰς ἔδνον· σημαίνει δὲ δύο· τὴν παρθενίαν γυναῖκα, καὶ τὸ ζῴδιον)
Comment
This fanciful etymology relies on implicit formal manipulations: it starts from the late Attic variant οὐθείς, οὐθενός "nobody" (attested from the end of the 5th c. on), to be restored under the standard koine form οὐδείς given by the Etym. Magnum, and then it implies a syncope of medial [u] (*παρουθενός > παρθένος). It is one of those etymologies starting from an inflected form, in that case a prepositional phrase in the genitive "from nobody". The fact that this genitive yields a nominative παρθένος was not an obstacle for Greek etymologists, for whom this way of deriving a word from another was regular. The semantic connection with "virgin" is remote, but it is a fact that the unmarried girl has of course no dowry, so that in a broad social context, the etymology can be understood