δῖνος
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
δόναξ
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
donax
English translation (word)
reed
Transliteration (Etymon)
dinos
English translation (etymon)
whirling
Century
12 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Magnum, p. 283
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967)
Quotation
Δόναξ: Ὁ κάλαμος. […]. Παρὰ τὸ δίνω, τὸ στρέφω, δῖνος· καὶ ὡς λίθος λίθαξ, οὕτω δῖνος δίναξ· καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ι εἰς ο, δόναξ, ὡς κλίνω, κλόνος· οἱ γὰρ ταρασσόμενοι συστρέφονται.
Translation (En)
Donax "reed" […] From dinō "to turn", dinos, and as lithos "stone", lithax "small stone", so dinos, *dinax, and by change of /i/ to /o/, donax, as klinō, klonos. For when they are agitated they whirl together.
Parallels
Etym. Symeonis, delta 323 (Δόναξ· ὁ κάλαμος· παρὰ τὸ δίνω, τὸ συστρέφω, καὶ ὡς λίθος λίθαξ· οὕτως δῖνος δίναξ καὶ τροπῇ δόναξ, οἱ γὰρ ταρασσόμενοι συστρέφονται· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δονεῖσθαι)
Modern etymology
Unknown, maybe a loanword (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has the derivative δονάκιο as a medical term referring to a type of bacteria
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational descriptive etymology: the reeds whirl, and this is considered as a characteristic feature. The etymology requires one formal change, from /I/ to /o/, for which a parallel is provided. The model of the derivation is λἰθος, λίθαξ, and the etymologists did not pay attention to the fact that λίθαξ is a kind of λἰθος, whereas δόναξ is not a kind of δῖνος. The analogy is purely formal and disregards semantics.