ἄημι

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἄνεμος

Transliteration (Word)

anemos

English translation (word)

wind

Transliteration (Etymon)

aēmi

English translation (etymon)

to blow

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos 56

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1842: 1-192.

Quotation

 ἄνεμος, […] Παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Ν, ἄνεμος, ἢ παρὰ τὸ νέμω, τὸ μερίζω, νέμος, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στερητικοῦ Α, ἄνεμος, ὃν οὐδεὶς δύναται μερίσαι

Translation (En)

Anemos "wind" : […] from "to blow", and through adjunction of [n], anemos. Or from nemō "to divide", *nemos, and with privative ἀ-, anemos, which nobody can divide

Comment

The etymology deriving ἄνεμος from ἄημι is founded in the physical nature of wind. This etymology was ascribed to Homer already, as Greek scholars interpreted the line τοὺς μὲν ἄρ’ οὔτ’ ἀνέμων διάη μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων (Od. 5.478) as an etymological figure (this is explicit in the Epimerismi Homerici, see Parallels). Formally, it implies the epenthesis of a consonant.

Parallels

Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, alpha 260 (ἀνέμοιο: ὄνομα προσηγορικὸν ἀπὸ ῥήματος. Ἀπολλόδωρος (FGrHist 244 F 233) παρὰ τὸ ἀνύειν. ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς παρὰ τὸ ἀεῖν· "ἀνέμων <διάη> μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων" (ε 478, τ 440) καὶ "ἦλθε δ’ ἐπὶ Νότος ὠκὺς ἀήμεναι"· ἀῶ οὖν ἄεμος καὶ ἐπενθέσει τοῦ ν ἄνεμος, <ὡς> ἀμείων ἀμείνων); Etym. Genuinum, alpha 838 (παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, ἄεμος, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ν ἄνεμος); Etym. Gudianum, alpha p. 140.

Modern etymology

Ἄνεμος matches Latin animus and is the reflex of PIE *h2enh1-mo- "breath" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Άνεμος still exists in Modern Greek as 'wind'. Also in phrases as "κόντρα στον άνεμο" (= "against the mainstream"), " όπου φυσάει ο άνεμος" (= "to be unstable") etc. (Triandafyllidis, Dict. of MG)

Entry By

Le Feuvre