ἀλκή
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Ἀλεξῶ· παρὰ τὴν ἄλοχον· κυρίως τὸ γυναικὶ βοηθῆσαι, καταχρηστικῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ ὁπωσδήποτε. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλκῶ ἀλξῶ καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ε ἀλεξῶ, ὅπερ εἰς ἐνεστῶτα ἀναχθὲν βαρύνεται ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀττικῶν.
Translation (En)
Alexô "to ward off": from alokhos "wife", it means properly to defend one's wife, and by extension is used more generally. Or it comes from *alkō "to be strong", ‹future› *alxō and through insertion of e, alexō, which transposed into the present tense is paroxytone in Attic.
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, alpha, p. 85 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 59 (idem); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 266.
The etymology maybe already found in Orion, if we assume that Ἀλκή, παρὰ τὸ ἄλκω καὶ ἄλξω μέλλων (Etymologicum, alpha, p. 27) hints at it through the mention of the future ἄλξω.
Comment
The verb *ἄλκω is a ghost form, inferred from the noun ἀλκή "strength". The derivation is the same as in the etymology deriving ἀλέξω from ἀλέγω (see ἀλέξω / ἀλέγω) and involves a switch from a morphological future to a present. In its principle, this etymology is correct from our modern point of view, as ἀλέξω belongs with ἀλκή.