ἀλκή
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἄρκτος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
arktos
English translation (word)
bear
Transliteration (Etymon)
alkē
English translation (etymon)
strength, valiance
Century
5 AD
Source
Etym. Gudianum Additamenta
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, alpha, p. 198
Ed.
E.L. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum, fasc. 1 & 2, Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1909; 2:1920
Quotation
Ώρίωνος. Ἄρκτος· διὰ τὸ εἶναι ἀργή· ἢ τάχα παρὰ τὴν ἀλκὴν ἐγένετο· ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι στραβόραχις
Translation (En)
(Orion) 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 descriptive etymology (not preserved in the versions of Orion's Etymologicum) draws the name of the animal from its physical characteristics, strength and valiance. It implies a phonetic manipulation, the change of /l/ to /r/, which was known to Greek scholars through various cases of dissimilation, and could find a parallel in ἀδελφός which became in Byzantine Greek ἀδερφός.