δέος + ποιέω

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Tue, 08/10/2021 - 11:37

Word-form

δεσπότης

Transliteration (Word)

despotēs

English translation (word)

lord, master

Transliteration (Etymon)

deos + poieō

English translation (etymon)

fear + to create

Author

Philo of Alexandria

Century

1 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Quis rerum divinare heres sit 23

Ed.

P. Wendland, Philonis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt, vol. 3, Berlin: Reimer, 1898 (repr. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1962)

Quotation

δεσπότης δὲ παρὰ τὸν δεσμόν, ἀφ’ οὗ τὸ δέος οἶμαι—ὥστε τὸν δεσπότην κύριον εἶναι καὶ ἔτι ὡσανεὶ φοβερὸν κύριον, οὐ μόνον τὸ κῦρος καὶ τὸ κράτος ἀνημμένον ἁπάντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ δέος καὶ φόβον ἱκανὸν ἐμποιῆσαι

Translation (En)

The word "master" (despotēs) comes from the word "bond" (desmos), from which comes the word "fear" (deos), I think–so that the master is the lord, and so to speak the frightening lord, not only the one who endowed with power and rule over everyone, but also that he can create (empoiēsai) in people a sufficient fear (deos) and dread

Comment

The word is parsed as a compound, which it is. The morphological boundary is correctly identified (δεσ-πότης), but the two elements are erroneous to a modern's eye. The second element is analyzed as an agent noun in -της, from ποιέω, which implies dropping of the medial syllable (-ποιητης > ποτης) as is explicitly said in Orion (see Parallels). The first element was identified either as δέος "fear" or as δεσμός "bond", both alluding to the power the master has over the slave, and Philo's explanation brings both etymologies together as he takes δέος to be from δεσμός. This relies on what Greek grammarians described as the polysemy of a verb δέω meaning both "to bind" (from which is derived δεσμός) and "to fear" (from which is derived δέος) : see Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 75, δεσμός· παρὰ τὸ δέω, τὸ δεσμεύω. Τὸ δέω πόσα σημαίνει; Διὰ τοῦ Ε ψιλοῦ σημαίνει τέσσαρα· δέω τὸ δεσμεύω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ δεσμός· δέω τὸ φοβοῦμαι, ἐξ οὗ καὶ δέος ὁ φόβος· δέω τὸ ἱκετεύω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ δέομαί σου· δέον δέω (sic), ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ ἔδεον, ἔδεες, ἔδεε, καὶ ἔδει γενέσθαι "δεσμός is from δέω "to bind". How many different meanings does δέω have? Four, when written with an ‹E› : δέω "to bind", from which δεσμός "bond", δέω "to fear", from which δέος "fear", δέω "to be a suppliant", from which δέομαί σου "I beg you", and "to be necessary", from which are derived ἔδεον, ἔδεες, ἔδεε, and ἔδει." Modern linguistics has shown that "to fear" and "to bind" are different verbs with different roots (δείδω "to fear", from *dwei-, δέω "to bind", from *deh1-, and a third one, δέω / δέομαι "to need", hence "to beg", from *dew-), but for Greek scholars it was one and the same verb, which enabled them to derive many words from it, notwithstanding the semantic difficulties

Parallels

Orion, Etymologicum, delta p. 47 (δεσπότης, δεοποιητής τις ὢν, δέος ἐμποιῶν); Etym. Gudianum, delta p. 347 ( ἢ δεσποίτης τις ὤν, ὁ δέος ἐμποιῶν τοῖς οἰκέταις); Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, delta p. 347 (Δεσπότης· παρὰ τὸ δέος ποιεῖν· ὁ τοῖς δούλοις φοβερός. ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέω δεσμώτης καὶ δεσπότης, ὁ δεσμὰ περιβάλλων καὶ δουλαγωγῶν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 258 (ἢ δεσποίτης τὶς ὢν, ὁ δέος ἐμποιῶν τοῖς οἰκέταις, κατὰ ἀποβολὴν τοῦ ι); Etym. Symeonis, delta p. 145 (id.); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, delta p. 477 (id.); Scholia rec. in Aristophanem, Plut. 3a, recensio 1 (<δοῦλος> ἀπὸ τοῦ μετὰ δέους λάειν ἤγουν βλέπειν· δεσπότης ὁ τοῦ δέους ποιητής [Tzetzes]), recensio 2 (δοῦλος δὲ λέγεται ὅτι μετὰ δέους λάει καὶ βλέπει, δεσπότης ὡς δέους ποιητικός [Tzetzes]); ibid., Plut. 122, recensio 2 (ὅθε καὶ δοῦλος ὁ μετὰ δέους λεύσσων—κἂν νῦν ἀναιδῶς βλέπωσι—, καὶ δεσπότης ὁ δέους ποιητικός [Tzetzes])

Modern etymology

Δεσπότης is a compound, or rather a pseudo-compound resulting from the univerbation of an old syntagm *dems poti- "house-lord", inherited from PIE (Ved. dámpati-) (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Δεσπότης exists as the name of a historical reality (the head of a region in Byzantine Greece) and a religious word. The derivative δεσποτικός "despotic" still exists

Entry By

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