δεσμός
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
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.
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum p. 347 (Δεσπότης· παρὰ τὸν δεσμόν, ἀφ’ οὗ τὸ δέος, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ὅλων δεσμός ἐστι συνέχων τὰ ἄλυτα καὶ σφίγγων αὐτά); Additamenta in Etymologicum Gudianum, 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 παρὰ τὸ δέω, δεσμώτης, καὶ δεσπότης, ὁ δεσμὸν περιβάλλων καὶ δουλαγωγῶν)
Comment
This etymology is formulated clearly here only, but it is older, and already mentioned by Philo of Alexandria (see δεσπότης/δέος). The word is not parsed as a compound, but as a derivative of δεσμός (here given as a neuter δεσμά). The phonetic confusion between [ŏ] and [ō] in late Greek allows for that etymology, which implies only one phonetic manipulation: [m] is supposedly changed into [p] (this is not explicit). What is interesting, however, is that the word δεσμώτης exists, it means "prisoner", that is, the one who is in bonds, and not the one who binds: it looks as though the derivation δεσμώτης → δεσπότης was understood as allowing for an inversion of diathesis ("bound", passive → "binding", active), although this is not said explicitly.