παίω + ἔδαφος
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
πόδες
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
pous
English translation (word)
foot
Transliteration (Etymon)
paiō + edaphos
English translation (etymon)
to strike + ground-floor
Century
7-8 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Viae dux 2.8, l. 53
Ed.
K.-H. Uthemann, Anastasius Sinaïtae viae dux [Corpus Christianorum. Series Graeca 8. Turnhout: Brepols, 1981]
Quotation
πόδες διὰ τὸ παίειν τὸ ἔδαφος·
Translation (En)
Podes "feet" come from "to strike" (paiein) the ground (edaphos)
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, pi, p. 472 (Πόδες, διὰ τὸ βαδίζειν περὶ τὰς πλατείας· ἢ διὰ τὸ παίειν τὸ ἔδαφος, καὶ παίειν τὴν ὁδόν); ibid., p. 478 (Ποὺς, παρὰ τὸ πεπῦσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὅλου σώματος, παρὰ τὸ παίω ῥῆμα, ὁ μέλλων παίσω, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ι εἰς υ παύσω, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ποῦς, τὸ κατώτερον μέρος τοῦ σώματος. ); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 678 (Ποδαβρός: Ὁ τὸν πόδα ἁβρός. Πόδες, διὰ τὸ παίειν τὸ ἔδαφος)
Modern etymology
Inherited word for "foot", cognate with Lat. pēs, pedis, Ved. pād-, Got. fotus, Arm. otn (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has ποδί, from the old derivative ποδίον
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology relying as often on the acrophobic principle. Of the first member, only the initial consonant is kept. Of the second member, the first two phonemes /e/ and /d/. The /e/ is then changed to /o/ according to the usual alternation of the type λέγω / λόγος. The foot hits the ground when one walks. The Gudianum (p. 478) makes an attempt at unifying this etymology and the usual one by παύω by assuming the derivational chain παίω → παίσω → παύσω → παύς → πούς (in which the word is etymologized by the etymon of the etymon)