δεύω + ἀ-

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Mon, 12/30/2024 - 18:45

Word-form

εὐδία

Transliteration (Word)

eudia

English translation (word)

clear weather

Transliteration (Etymon)

deuō

English translation (etymon)

to wet

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, p. 389

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967)

Quotation

Εὔδιος καὶ εὐδία: Ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος ἠρεμία, καὶ κυρίως ἀβροχία· παρὰ τὸ δεύω, τὸ βρέχω, δευΐα· καὶ κατὰ μετάθεσιν, εὐδία· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ εὕδω εὐδία· δοκεῖ γὰρ κοιμᾶσθαι ὁ ἀὴρ, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος, ‘ὄφρ’ εὕδῃσι μένος βορέαο καὶ ἄλλων | ζαχρειῶν ἀνέμων’. Ἢ ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς σημαίνει καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν· καὶ εὔδιος, ὁ αἴθριος. Ἢ εὐοδία τὶς ἐστὶ, χρήσιμος τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσιν· ἢ σύνθετόν ἐστι τὸ εὔδιος παρὰ τὸ Δία, ἵν’ ᾖ ὁ εὐάερος· Δία γὰρ καὶ τὸν ἀέρα φησὶ Πλάτων ὁ κωμικός· ‘Ἀὴρ, ὃν ἄν τις ὀνομάσειε καὶ Δία’.  

Translation (En)

Eudios and eudia "clear weather": the calm of the air, and properly the absence of rain. From deuō "to wet", *deuia, and by metathesis, eudia. Or from heudō "to sleep eudia, for the airs seems to sleep, as Homer says "until the ardor of Boreas and the other violent winds goes to sleep" (ophr' eudēisi menos boreao kai allōn | zakhreiōn anemōn, Il. 5.524–525) Or because Zeus also means "sky", and eudios, the heavenly. Or it is a *euodia "nice journey", useful to travelers. Or it is a compound, eudios, from Dia [Zeus in the accusative], the one with a good air. For Plato the Comic calls Zeus the air: "the air, which one could call Zeus, too"

Comment

Compositional etymology. The word is parsed as a privative compound, with the particularity that the privative prefix is assumed to be at the end of the word instead of the beginning. This is no completely isolated (for similar examples with νη-, see σελήνη / σέλας + νη-, χελώνη / κέλλω + νη-; with ἀ-, cf. κραναός / κραίνω + ἀ-. Then a metathesis of /d/ and /eu/ provides the sequence eud-. Nice weather is equated with the absence of rain in many cultures (see the opposite, the Slavic word for "rain" etymologically means "bad sky")

Parallels

Etym. Symeonis, epsilon 899 (Εὐδία· ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος ἠρεμία, κυρίως ἀβροχία· παρὰ τὸ δεύω τὸ βρέχω, δευΐα· καὶ κατὰ μετάθεσιν εὐδία· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ εὕδω εὐδία. Δοκεῖ γὰρ κοιμᾶσθαι ὁ ἀήρ, οἷον· ὄφρ’ εὕδῃσι μένος Βορέαο· ἢ ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς σημαίνει καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν· καὶ εὔδιος, ὁ αἴθριος. Ἢ εὐοδία τις οὖσα, χρήσιμος τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσι); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, epsilon, p. 906 (Εὐδία καὶ εὔδιος. ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος ἠρεμία. κυρίως δὲ ἡ ἀβροχία. [παρὰ τὸ δεύω, τὸ βρέχω, δευΐα καὶ κατὰ μετάθεσιν εὐδία. —ὄφρ’ εὕδῃσι μένος Βορέαο καὶ ἄλλων | ζαχρείων ἀνέμων.])

Modern etymology

Compound of εὐ- "good" and *diew- "sky"

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has ευδία as a learned word

Entry By

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