βολή

Word

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Sat, 05/28/2022 - 10:30

Word-form

βουλή

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

boulē

English translation (word)

will

Transliteration (Etymon)

bolē

English translation (etymon)

throw

Author

Plato

Century

4 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Cratylus 420c2

Ed.

Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903

Quotation

ὥσπερ γε καὶ ἡ ‘βουλή’ πως τὴν βολήν, καὶ τὸ ‘βούλεσθαι’ τὸ ἐφίεσθαι σημαίνει καὶ τὸ ‘βουλεύεσθαι’: πάντα ταῦτα δόξῃ ἑπόμεν᾽ ἄττα φαίνεται τῆς βολῆς ἀπεικάσματα, ὥσπερ αὖ καὶ τοὐναντίον ἡ ‘ἀβουλία’ ἀτυχία δοκεῖ εἶναι, ὡς οὐ βαλόντος οὐδὲ τυχόντος οὗ τ᾽ ἔβαλλε καὶ ὃ ἐβούλετο καὶ περὶ οὗ ἐβουλεύετο καὶ οὗ ἐφίετο

Translation (En)

just as boulē "intention" denotes "shooting" (bolē) and boulesthai "to wish", as well as bouleuesthai "to plan", denotes aiming at something. All these words seem to follow the common opinion and to express the idea of shooting, just as aboulia "ill-advisedness", on the other hand, appears to be a failure to hit, as if a person did not shoot or hit that which he shot at or wished or planned or desired (transl. Fowler)

Comment

This etymology, which became standard in Greek scholarship, may be older than Plato. It relies on a metaphoric relationship between a physical throw aiming at a material goal and the mental "throw" of will aiming at an abstract goal. It implies only a minor formal modification, that of a short /o/ to a long closed /ō/ (spelled ου), to which Plato resorts elsewhere in the Cratylus and which was familiar to Greek speakers. Later sources add that βολή is derived from βάλλω, which is not in Plato.

Parallels

Porphyrius, Quaestionum homericarum liber 1, section 5 (καὶ ἡ βουλὴ δὲ οἷον βολή τις); Porphyrius, Quaestionum homericarum ad Odysseam pertinentium reliquiae 2, 318 (ἐπήβολος ἐκ τοῦ βάλλω, τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνω, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ βουλή, οἱονεὶ βολή τις οὖσα); Orion, Etymologicum, beta p. 37 (Βουλή, βέλω, βολὴ, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ, βουλή. ἐπιβουλὴ γὰρ ψυχῆς ἐστί); ibid. p. 613; Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 16 (Παρὰ τὸ βάλλω, βολὴ, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Υ βουλή· τρέπεται τὸ Α εἰς Ο μικρὸν, ὡς ἐν τῷ ἡμερόβιος, ὥρα, ὡροσκόπος, ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω, βολὴ καὶ βουλὴ, ἡ τοῦ νοὸς ἐμβολή); Etym. Genuinum, beta 212 (Βουλή· παρὰ τὸ βάλλω βαλῶ ἢ βέλλω γίνεται βολή, ἡ σύστοιχος τῆς γνώμης φορά, ἢ ἐπιβολὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ βουλή); Epimerismi homerici alphabetico ordine traditi, omicron 45 (καὶ ἐκ τοῦ βάλλω γίνεται βολή καὶ βουλή θηλυκά); Etym. Gudianum, beta p. 280 (Βουλή· παρὰ τὸ βάλλω ἢ παρὰ τὸ βέλ<λ>ω βολή, καὶ ἐν πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ βουλή, ἡ τοῦ νοὸς ἐκβολή); ibid., omicron p. 417; Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 68 (βάλλειν γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν. ὅθεν καὶ ἐπήβολος ὁ ἐπιτυχὴς λογισμοῦ καὶ βουλή, ὡσανεὶ βολή, ἡ ἐπιτυχὴς σκέψις); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 40 (ἐκ τῆς βολῆς δὲ, καὶ ὁ βολαῖος θύννος. καὶ ἡ βουλὴ ἐπενθέσει τοῦ υ); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 208 (Βουλή: Ὄνομα ῥηματικὸν, εἴδους τῶν ὑποπεπτωκότων τῷ ὀνόματι προσηγορικοῦ. Γίνεται παρὰ τὸ βέλλω, βολὴ, ἡ σύστοιχος τῆς γνώμης φορὰ ἢ ἐπιβολὴ τῆς ψυχῆς· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ, βουλὴ, ἡ τοῦ νοὸς ἐμβολή. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω, βολή· καὶ πλεονασμῷ βουλή)

Modern etymology

Βουλή is a back formation from βούλομαι, from root *gwel- "to wish" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Βουλή is still used in Modern Greek, designating: 1. the totality of the members of the Parliament, 2. the building of the National Parliament, 2. in plural, the 'will' of mankind and God (Triandafyllidis Dict. of MG).

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