ἀργός
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἄρκτος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
arktos
English translation (word)
bear
Transliteration (Etymon)
ārgos
English translation (etymon)
lazy, idle
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
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
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.