σφίγγω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Reference
Edition
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
σπόγγος εἰ μὲν διὰ τοῦ π παρὰ τὸ σπᾶν τὰ ὑγρά, διὰ δὲ τοῦ φ παρὰ τὸ σφίγγειν κατὰ τὰς ἐκθλίψεις. οὕτως Ἡρωδιανός.
Translation (En)
Spongos "sponge": when spelled with a p, it comes from spân "to draw" humidity; and when spelled with a ph, it comes from sphingein "to press", because of the squeezing out ‹of water›. This is what Herodian says.
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 724 (idem).
This etymology is alluded to in Galen's De alimentorum facultatibus libr. iii (Kühn vol. 6, p. 673): συστέλλονταί τε καὶ πυκνοῦνται διαφέροντες ἀλλήλων τοιαύτην τινὰ διαφοράν, ὁποίαν οἱ διάβροχοι σπόγγοι τῶν ἐσκελετευμένων· οὕτω γὰρ ὀνομάζουσιν ὧν ἂν ἐκθλίψαντες ἅπασαν τὴν ὑγρότητα σφίγξωσί τε καὶ συναγάγωσιν ὅλον τὸ σῶμα δεσμοὺς περιβάλλοντες "they contract themselves and become dense, differing from each other with a difference such as exists between sponges full of water and dried sponges; as a matter of fact, so are called those which are squeezed, as you expel from them all the humidity, and which contract their whole body as you bind them."
Comment
This etymology is interesting in so far as it explains the coexistence of two variants of the word, σπόγγος and σφόγγος, justifying them through two etymologies (both paronymic). The sponge would be named properly σπόγγος “drawing (liquid)" when it absorbs water and σφόγγος “squeezing" when, pressed, it expels water. It is not clear whether Herodian endorsed only the etymology by σφίγγω or both.