βαίνω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Γίνεται δὲ βῆλος παρὰ τὸ βῶ τὸ βαίνω, ὁ μέλλων, βήσω, βῆλος καὶ βέβηλος
Translation (En)
The word bēlos "threshold" comes from *bō "to walk", future bēsō, then bēlos "threshold" and bebēlos "profane"
Parallels
Etym. Genuinum, beta 78 (Βέβηλος· λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὁ μὴ ἱερὸς (Thuc. l. c.) τόπος καὶ ὁ ἀκάθαρτος, ἢ καὶ ἀμύητος. ῥητορική. εἴρηται δὲ ὁ μὲν τόπος ἀπὸ τοῦ βῶ βήσω βηλός καὶ ἐν διπλασιασμῷ βέβηλος, ὁ βάσιμος παντί, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τοῦ ἀδύτου· καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου, ὁ ἐν ἀνιέροις τόποις ἄξιος διατρίβειν); Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, beta p. 265 (idem); Suda, beta 214 (Βέβηλος τόπος: ὁ βατὸς πᾶσι καὶ ἀκάθαρτος. καὶ βέβηλος ἀνήρ, ὁ ἀμύητος καὶ μιαρός. Εὐριπίδης· οὐ θέμις βεβήλοις ἅπτεσθαι δόμων); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 193 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 3, 695 (Δῆλον δὲ ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ βῶ βήσω παρῆκται ὁ βηλός, ἐξ οὗ καὶ βέβηλος, κυρίως τόπος ὁ καὶ τῷ τυχόντι βάσιμος, καὶ ἀνάπαλιν ἀβέβηλος ὁ μὴ τοιοῦτος); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, beta p. 381.
The etymology is implicit in John Chrysostom's Quod regulares feminae viris cohabitare non debeant 1 (καὶ τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων πεπάτηται, καὶ τὰ σεμνὰ καὶ φρίκης γέμοντα γέγονε βέβηλα καὶ πᾶσι βατὰ).
Comment
Choeroboscus derives βέβηλος from βηλός "threshold", itself supposedly derived from βήσω "I will walk", so that ultimately βέβηλος is considered derived from the future, too. This etymology is correct according to modern scholars, although of course the derivation process assumed by Choeroboscus (derivation from the future stem) is not. The threshold is the place on which one can walk, and βέβηλος means properly "on which one can step", that is, not sacred, profane, public. Choeroboscus ultimately takes this etymology from Philoxenus who derived βηλός from βήσω (see βηλός / βαίνω) and presumably derived also βέβηλος from the same, but no mention of βέβηλος is found in Philoxenus' fragments.