ἕμα
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ὄμματα
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
o,,qtq
English translation (word)
eyes
Transliteration (Etymon)
hema
English translation (etymon)
throwing
Century
5 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etymologicum, omicron, p. 117
Ed.
F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, Weigel, 1820
Quotation
Ὄμματα. οἷον [ν]ἕματα καὶ οἴματα· ἐπεὶ δι’ αὐτῶν ἀφιᾶται καὶ ὁρμᾶται τὸ ὁρατικόν. Αἰολεῖς δὲ ὄππα τὰ παρὰ τοὺς ὦπας. (Orion's manuscript has νέματα, which is a mistake)
Translation (En)
Ommata "eyes", like *hemata "throwing" and oimata "rush", for through them the power of sight is emitted and rushes. And the Aeolians say oppata, from ōps "eye"
Parallels
Meletius, De natura hominis, p. 68 (ὄμματα δὲ, ὅτι δι’ αὐτῶν τὸ ὁρατικὸν ὁρμᾶται πνεῦμα· οἷον αἵματα καὶ ὄμματα· ἐπειδὴ δι’ αὐτῶν ἀφίεται καὶ ἀκοντίζεται τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς πνεῦμα· οἱ δὲ Αἰολεῖς ὤπατα λέγουσι παρὰ τοὺς ὦπας); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 624 (Ὄμματα: Οἱονεὶ ἔματα καὶ οἴματα ὄντα, ἐπεὶ δι’ αὐτῶν ἀφίεται καὶ ὁρμᾶται τὸ ὁρατικόν. Αἰολικῶς ὄππατα παρὰ τοὺς ὄπας)
Modern etymology
Inherited *h3ekw-mn, from the root meaning "to see", Cognate with Lat. oculus etc. (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has όμμα as a learned word. The usual word for "eye" is μάτι (< ὀμμάτιον)
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivatioal etymology, relying from the formal point of view on the familiar alternation e ~ o. Semantically, the sight consists in the eye throwing light on objects, therefore the etymon is *ἕμα, derivative of ἵημι. Since the word is unattested, it was mistaken and appears as νέματα in Orion's main manuscript, in αἵματα in Meletius (because of the monophthongization of the diphthong in Byzantine Greek) and the correct form ἕμα is preserved only in the Et. Magnum