σκιάζω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
σκότος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
skotos
English translation (word)
darkness
Transliteration (Etymon)
skiazō
English translation (etymon)
to shade, to overshadow
Century
5 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etymologicum, sigma, p. 147
Ed.
F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, Weigel, 1820
Quotation
Σκότος. ἀπὸ τοῦ σκιάζειν ὠνομᾶσθαι
Translation (En)
Skotos "darkness" is named after skiazein "to shade"
Parallels
Philoponus, In Aristotelis Categorias commentaria, vol. 13, 1, p. 180 (ὥσπερ τὸ σκότος παρὰ τὸ σκιάζειν εἴρηται ἡ δὲ σκιὰ ἐπιπρόσθησίς ἐστι φωτός, ἥτις ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ἢ ἁπλῶς ἐν τῷ διαφανεῖ συμβαίνει, ἤ, ὡς Ἡρωδιανός φησι, παρὰ τὸ σχέθειν· ἐπέχει γὰρ ἡμῶν τὸ εἰδέναι ἢ τῶν προόδων καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἐπιχείρησις); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 719 (same formulation as in Orion for which it is the source); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, sigma, p. 1655 (Σκότος. ἀπὸ τοῦ σκιάζειν. Ἡρακλείδης δὲ ὁ Ποντικὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ προσκόπτειν τὸν πορευόμενον ἐν αὐτῷ. ὁ δὲ Ἡρωδιανὸς παρὰ τὸ σχέθειν ἡμᾶς. ὅ ἐστιν ἐπισχεῖν ἡμᾶς πολλάκις προϊέναι)
Modern etymology
The word has a match in Germanic (Gothic skadus "shadow") and Celtic (Old Irish scáth "shadow"). PIE *skoto- (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
Σκότος is preserved as a learned word, next to the usual one σκοτάδι
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This etymology starts from the formal and semantic proximity between "darkness" and "shadow, shade", which share the initial sequence [sk]. As shadow produces darkness, the word skia "shadow" is logically taken as the source of skotos, the linguistic derivation mirroring the relation from cause to consequence of the extra-linguistic reality