ἀ- + μένω
Word
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
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Quotation
Ἄνεμοι, οἱονεὶ ἀμενοί τινες, οἱ μὴ μένοντες, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ν εἰς μ ἄνεμοι· μᾶλλον δὲ μεταθέσει τοῦ στοιχείου· οἱ μὴ ἠρεμοῦντες, μηδὲ ἐν ταὐτῷ μένοντες.
Ἄνεμος· διὰ τὸ ἀναμένειν καὶ πάλιν φυσᾶν. (Etymologicum, Excerpta e cod. regio 2610, p. 176)
Translation (En)
Anemoi "winds" are so to speak *amenoi, those which do not stay still, and through change of the [n] into [m], anemos; or rather through metathesis of the letters, those which are not calm and do not stay in the same place.
Anemos "wind": because it waits (anamenein) and blows again.
Parallels
Etym. Genuinum, alpha 838 (Ἄνεμος· παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, ἄεμος, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ν ἄνεμος. ἢ ἄμενός τίς † ἐστιν, ὁ μὴ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ μένων μηδὲ ἠρεμῶν, κατὰ μετάθεσιν τῶν στοιχείων ἄνεμος. οὕτως Ὠρίων); Etym. Gudianum, alpha p. 140 (Ἄνεμος· ὅτι φυσῶν πάλιν ἀναμένει).
Comment
As often, this etymology understands the word as a compound with the privative prefix. The root would be that of μένω, which implies a metathesis of consonants. The collocation of ἄνεμος and μένω is not a frequent one, so that this etymology seems to have been figured out without a textual support (or a lost one). Interestingly, Orion himself gives an alternative explanation, always linking the word with μένω, but the ἀ- would no longer be the privative prefix, but the preposition ἀνα- : the discontinuous and intermittent nature of wind leads to the idea that the winds stop and wait before blowing again.