ἀ- + νέμω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἄνεμος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
anemos
English translation (word)
wind
Transliteration (Etymon)
a- + nemō
English translation (etymon)
negation + to distribute
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 aō "to blow", and through adjunction of [n], anemos. Or from nemō "to divide", *nemos, and with privative ἀ-, anemos, which nobody can divide
Parallels
No parallel.
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)
Comment
This etymology implies no formal manipulation but is weak from the semantic point of view. It seems to refer to the immaterial nature of wind. The word is as in competing etymologies parsed as a privative compound.