κόλον
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
κόλαξ
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
kolax
English translation (word)
flatterer
Transliteration (Etymon)
kolon
English translation (etymon)
food
Century
2-3
Source
idem
Ref.
Deipnosohistae 6.80
Ed.
G. Kaibel, Athenaei Naucratitae deipnosophistarum libri xv, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1-2:1887; 3:1890
Quotation
κυρίως δ’ ὁ κόλαξ ἐπὶ τούτου κεῖται· κόλον γὰρ ἡ τροφή, ὅθεν καὶ ὁ βουκόλος καὶ ὁ δύσκολος, ὅς ἐστι δυσάρεστος καὶ σικχός, κοιλία τε ἡ τὴν τροφὴν δεχομένη
Translation (En)
Properly speaking, kolax "flatterer" lies there. For kolon means "food", whence boukolos "oxherd" and duskolos "irascible", the one who is hard to please and fastidious, and koilia "belly", that which receives food.
Parallels
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae (epitome), vol. 2,1, p. 107 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Od., vol. 2, p. 142 (Ἔτι ἰστέον καὶ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ, ὡς ἐῤῥέθη κόλον ἡ τροφὴ, βούλονταί τινες καὶ τὸν κόλακα εἶναι· οὗ σύνθετον ψωμοκόλαξ, ὡς καὶ ψωμοκόλαφος δραπέτης. ἐκεῖθεν δέ, φασι, καὶ δύσκολος ὁ δυσάρεστος καὶ σικχός)
Modern etymology
Unknown (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has κόλακας
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology. The flatterer is mainly the one who gets their food from their "target". The relationship between the lemma and the etymon "food" is final: the etymon is the aim. The word κόλον "food" does not exist, it was abstracted from βουκόλος as a possible etymon, and then used for other etymologies.