ἀργός

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Sat, 07/31/2021 - 14:33

Word-form

ἄρκτος

Transliteration (Word)

arktos

English translation (word)

bear

Transliteration (Etymon)

ārgos

English translation (etymon)

lazy, idle

Author

Orion?

Century

5 AD

Source

Etym. Gudianum Additamenta

Ref.

Etym. Gudiaum Additamenta alpha, p. 198

Ed.

E.L. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum, fasc. 1 & 2, Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1909; 2:1920

Quotation

Ἄρκτος· διὰ τὸ εἶναι ἀργή· ἢ τάχα παρὰ τὴν ἀλκὴν ἐγένετο· ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι στραβόραχις

Translation (En)

Arktos "bear": because it is idle (argē); or maybe it was so named because of its valiance (alkē), or because it has a crooked spine

Comment

This etymology, as the competing one ἄρκτος / ἀρκέω, appeals to the characteristic of hibernation which makes the animal seem idle or lazy – it is a descriptive etymology. The form ἀργή, following the s-inflection, is secondary: it is from ἀεργός, so that it has a long /ā/, whereas ἄρκτος has a short /ă/, but phonological vocalic quantity was lost in Greek when this etymology was devised. No phonetic manipulation is involved, the /g/ becomes voiceless before the /t/ of the suffix.

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

The name of the bear, isolated within Greek, is inherited from PIE as *h2r̥tko-, matching Lat. ursus, Ved. r̥kṣa-, Hitt. hartaka- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word is still used as a learned form of the commonly used derivative αρκούδα, as well as in astronomy to designate the constellations of the Great Bear and Small Bear (Triandafyllidis Dictionary of MG)

Entry By

Le Feuvre