εὕδω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
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Ed.
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"
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.])
Comment
Derivational etymology relying on a Homeric quotation in which the raging winds are said to go to sleep (NB: in the Homeric line εὐδία is absent). By association of ideas, a clear weather is usually windless, therefore it happens because the winds are asleep. The etymology is formally simple, but semantically rather wild