πολύς + *τῶ
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
πλοῦτος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ploutos
English translation (word)
wealth
Transliteration (Etymon)
polus + *tō
English translation (etymon)
much, many + to take
Century
12 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Magnum, p. 677
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967)
Quotation
Πλοῦτος: Παρὰ τὸ πολὺς, καὶ τὸ τῶ, τὸ λαμβάνω καὶ δέχομαι, πολύουτος· καὶ συγκοπῇ, πλοῦτος· καὶ Πλούτων λέγεται ὁ ᾅδης, ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς ἀποθανόντας μηδενὸς δεῖσθαι, ὡς οἱ πλούσιοι· ἢ ὅτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς ὁ πλοῦτος εὑρίσκεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ὅθεν καὶ Ἡσίοδος, ‘Δημήτηρ μὲν Πλοῦτον ἐγείνατο’.
Translation (En)
Ploutos "wealth". From polus "much, many", and *tō "to take" and "to receive", *poluoutos, and by syncope ploutos. And Ploutōn is the name of Hades, because he dead ones do not need anything, like rich people, or because wealth comes from the earth for men. This is why Hesiod says "and Demeter gave birth to Ploutos"
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Derivative of the root *plew- "to flow" of πλέω "to sail", πλόος "navigation", πλύνω "to wash" etc. (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has πλούτος "wealth"
Entry By
Le Oeuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology. Most Greek etymologists agree on the fact that πλοῦτος, πλούσιος are compounds of πολύς. The problem here was to identify the second member. It was solved by assuming the ghost verb *τῶ "to take", which was deduced from the interjection τῆ "there!" in Homer, analyzed as an imperative. Wealth is literally "taking many things" or "receiving many things", since λαμβάνω means both "to take" and "to receive"