κρότος + ἁφή
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
κρόταφος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
krotaphos
English translation (word)
temple (anat.)
Transliteration (Etymon)
krotos + haphē
English translation (etymon)
beat + touch
Century
12 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Comm. Il., vol. 2, p. 630
Ed.
M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, Leiden, 1971-1987
Quotation
Διὸ καὶ κρόταφος κατά τινας ὁ κηρύσσων τάφον, εἰ καὶ ἕτεροι παρὰ τὸ κροτεῖν περὶ τὴν ἁφὴν αὐτὸν ἐτυμολογοῦσι διὰ τὸ σφύζειν, καὶ ἄλλοι ἄλλως.
Translation (En)
This is why krotaphos "temple" is, according to some, the one announcing the grave, although others etymologize it through kroteō "to strike, to make noise" and haphē "touch", because the pulse can be felt there, and others etymologize it differently
Parallels
Scholia in Oppianum, Hal. 4.349 (κρόταφος ἀπὸ τοῦ κηρύσσειν τὸν τάφον, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ποιεῖν κρότον τῇ ἁφῇ)
Modern etymology
Probably derived from κρότος, as the "beating" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has κρόταφο
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology, to which Eustathius does not subscribe (he assumes that the correct etymology is the derivational one, see κρόταφος / κρότος). The etymology has the same starting point as the derivational one: instead of being the base, κρότος becomes the first member of a compound, and instead of being a suffix, -αφος is assumed to be the word ἁφή, providing the second member of the compound. This compositional etymology is similar to the other one in which the first member is assumed to be κρούω (see κρόταφος / κρούω + ἁφή), and we are dealing here with variations on one and the same etymology: the temples "beat", and this is expressed either by derivational or compositional etymologies, with a first member meaning "to beat, to strike"