κηρύσσω + τάφος
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
Κρόταφος· καλεῖται δὲ οὕτως (ὅτι) ὁ κρουόμενος εἰς αὐτοὺς (αὐτὸν) τάφον ἔχει καὶ ἐκπληγος γίνεται, ὡς τὸ ‘τάφος ἕλε πάντας Ἀχαιούς’· ἢ παρὰ τὸ κηρύττειν τὸν τάφον.
Translation (En)
Krotaphos "temple". It is so named because those who are hit in the temple are astonished and paralyzed, as in ‘and astonishment seized all the Achaeans’ (Il.); or from kērussein "to announce" the tomb (taphos)
Parallels
Eystathius, Comm. Il., vol. 1, p. 780 (ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κηρύσσειν τάφον ἐτυμολογεῖται, δηλοῦσιν οἱ παλαιοί. συντελεῖ δὲ εἰς τοῦτο καὶ Θεόκριτος εἰπών· «ἀπὸ κροτάφων πελόμεθα πάντες γηραλέοι καὶ ἐπισχερώ»); ibid., vol. 2, p. 630 (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); Scholia in Oppianum, Hal. 4.349 (κρόταφος ἀπὸ τοῦ κηρύσσειν τὸν τάφον, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ποιεῖν κρότον τῇ ἁφῇ); Scholia in Aristophanem, Commentarium in Plutum 271a (Tzetzes) (κρόταφος· ἀπὸ τοῦ κηρύσσειν τὸν τάφον); Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 131 (κρόταφος ἡ μῆνιγξ· παρὰ τὸ κρούω καὶ τὸ τάφος, ὁ ἐν τῷ κρούεσθαι ἅμα καὶ τὸν τάφον δεχόμενος. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ κηρύσσειν τὸν τάφον· ἅμα γάρ τις τρωθεὶς παρ’ αὐτὰ καὶ τὸν τάφον δέχεται. ἢ ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῶν κερασφόρων ζώων, κερατοφόρος τις ὢν καὶ κατὰ συγκοπὴν καὶ μετάθεσιν κρόταφος. ἢ ὥς φησιν ὁ μέγας Θεσσαλονίκης, οὗ τὸ κλέος περίπυστον, κρόταφος ὁ μέσον τῆς κάρας, τῶν ὤτων καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς κείμενος [Moschopoulos])
Comment
Compositional etymology referring to the general fact that the hair starts to become grey on the temples. Therefore, the temples "announce" old age, and therefore, death, here metaphorically expressed by a name of the tomb for the sake of the etymology. With τάφος providing a formally clear second member, the first member had to be invented out of a plausible combination with "tomb". The consonantal structure of κρόταφος is kept, and leads to κηρύσσω "to herald", while the vowels are either changed or dropped.