χῶ
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
χάος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
khaos
English translation (word)
chaos
Transliteration (Etymon)
khô
English translation (etymon)
to give way
Century
1 BC
Reference
Fragment 199
Edition
C. Theodoridis, Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Philoxenos [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 2. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1976
Source
Orion
Ref.
Etymologicum, khi p. 164
Ed.
W.F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig: Weigel, 1820
Quotation
χάος· παρὰ τὸ χῶ χαίω χάος, ὡς δαίω, τὸ καίω, δάος, ἡ λαμπάς· δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ χάος τὸ μέγα καὶ ἀπέραντον χώρημα
Translation (En)
Khaos "chaos" comes from khō "to give way": khaiō, khaos, as in daiō "to burn", daos "torch"; and chaos means the large and infinite “space” (chōrēma)
Parallels
Simplicius, In Aristoteles physicorum libros comentaría, vol. 9, p. 527 (καὶ τοῦ χάος ἀπὸ τοῦ χῶ ῥήματος δοκοῦντος γεγονέναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ χωρητικὸν δηλοῦν "and the word χάος seems to come from the verb χῶ and thereby means that which can contain within itself"); Ibid. p. 620 (καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τοῦ νοητοῦ χάους εἰκὼν ἡ χώρα τῶν σωμάτων παρὰ τὸ χῶ ῥῆμα, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ χωρῶ, χάος καλούμενον)
Modern etymology
Probably derived from the root found in χάσκω "to gape" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
Yes
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Descriptive etymology starting from a "primary" verb form which is a ghost form in Greek, consistent with Philoxenus' theory in his Peri monosyllabôn. Chaos is defined as the space which contains everything (one of the meanings of χωρέω, of which *χῶ is supposed to be the base, is "to have enough room for, to contain")