παλάσσω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Παλάσσετο. Ἐβρέχετο, ἐμολύνετο. Ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ πηλὸς, ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ
Translation (En)
Palasseto "it was besprinkled", "defiled". From there comes also pēlos "mud" which is a soaked soil
Parallels
Apollonius, Lexicon homericum, pi, 126 (παλάξαι μαλάξαι Ἀπίων καὶ συνθραῦσαι. ἔστι δὲ μᾶλλον βρέξαι, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ πηλὸς ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ); Hesychius, Lexicon, pi, 151 (παλάξαι· βρέξαι· ἔνθεν καὶ πηλὸς ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ); Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 130 (παρὰ τὸ παλάσσω τὸ μολύνω, ἡ βεβρωμένη (βεβρεγμένη) γῆ); Etym. Gudianum, pi p. 449 (Παλάσσετο, ἐβρέχετο, ἐμολύνετο· πηλὸς γὰρ ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, pi, p. 1516 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. in Iliadem 2, 311 (Πεπαλαγμένον δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ μεμολυσμένον ἐκ τοῦ παλάσσω, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ ὁ πηλός); ibid. 3, 177; Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 670 (Πηλός: Ἐκ τοῦ πάλλω ἢ παλάσσω, τὸ βρέχω καὶ μολύνω, γίνεται πηλὸς, ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ. Πηλὸς λέγεται καὶ ὁ οἶνος, παρὰ τὸ πάλλειν καὶ σείειν ἡμῶν τὰς φρένας· οἱ γὰρ πίνοντες αὐτὸν, σείονται· ὅθεν καὶ κραιπάλη)
Comment
This descriptive etymology is old and accounts for the basic meaning of πηλός "mud". It is a descriptive etymology which draws the word from a verb meaning "to soak, to besprinkle". From the formal point of view, it relies on the alternation between [ē] and [ă] as in ἵστημι / ἵσταμεν. The derived meaning of πηλός "dregs", hence "wine" is accounted for differently (see πηλός / πάλλω), so that we may have here an instance of a complementary etymology combining two different etymons in order to account for two different contextual uses of the word (see δῆμος / δασμός).