ἀ- + εἶμι
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ἠΐών
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ēïōn
English translation (word)
shore
Transliteration (Etymon)
a- + eimi
English translation (etymon)
not + to go
Century
9 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, eta 27
Ed.
A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2] Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995
Quotation
<ἠϊ>ών (cf. Β 92 alibi): ὁ αἰγιαλός. ἤτοι ὅτι ἀκούομεν ἐκεῖ τῶν κυμάτων {ἢ} Δωρικῶς <ἀϊόνα ἀντὶ τοῦ> ἠΐονα· ἢ διὰ τὸ ἀπόρευτον <εἶναι τὴν> θάλασσαν †μέχρι γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἵησιν ἡ θάλασσα†. τάχα δὲ ἐπεὶ αἰονᾶν λέγουσι τὸ καταντλεῖν.
Translation (En)
ēïōn, the "shore", because here we hear the waves. Doric <aïona instead of> ēïona. Or because the sea <is> unwalkable (aporeuton) †for the sea sends up to the shore†. Or rather because aionân means "to pour on sth."
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, eta, p. 238 (Ἠϊὼν, ὁ αἰγιαλὸς· ἤτοι ὅτι ἀκούομεν ἐκεῖ τῶν κυμάτων, ἀπὸ τοῦ. ἰέναι ἀρασσομένων, οἷον, ἀϊόνα ἀντὶ τοῦ ᾐόνα Δωρικῶς, παρὰ τὴν ἀπόρευτον θάλασσαν, μέχρι γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἴησιν ἡ θάλασσα. τάχα δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀονᾷν λέγουσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ καταντλεῖν, ἀήονα εἰκότως)
Modern etymology
Unknown (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
The word is parsed as a privative compound of "to go", with metrical lengthening of the privative ἀ-. In the etymology, εἶμι is replaced by its equivalent πορεύομαι, yielding the privative compound ἀπόρευτος (elliptic etymology, for no privative compound of εἶμι exists). The etymon "unwalkable" would be understandable for the sea – and this is what the Epimerisms say –, less so for the shore, except if we assume that by metonymy, the sea and the seashore can be treated as equivalent.