ἄημι

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Thu, 08/25/2022 - 15:44

Word-form

αὐλή

Transliteration (Word)

aulē

English translation (word)

courtyard

Transliteration (Etymon)

aēmi

English translation (etymon)

to blow

Author

Philoxenus

Century

1 BC

Reference

fr. 454

Edition

C. Theodoridis, Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Philoxenos [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 2. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1976

Source

Orion

Ref.

Etymologicum, alpha p. 20

Ed.

F.W. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, 1820

Quotation

αὐλή· ἄω, τὸ πνέω, οὗ ὁ μέλλων ἄσω, ὡς ἀπὸ βαρυτόνου· πλεονασμῷ τοῦ υ αὔσω, ὄνομα ῥηματικὸν αὐλή

Translation (En)

Aulē "courtyard": means "to blow", the future is asō, since it comes from a barytone <verb>. Through the addition of [u], ausō, and the verbal noun is aulē

Comment

This etymology starts from a monosyllabic verb, ἄω, thematic variant of the older ἄημι "to blow". From there it derives αὐλή "courtyard" as the place which is exposed to winds since it has no roof. That requires to add a vowel [u] in order to derive the noun. This etymology became standard in Antiquity. The formulation "since it comes from a barytone <verb>" is meant to account for the future ἄσω: "barytone" here is opposed to perispomenon, which applies to contract verb forms of the τιμάω type, and since ἄω is not perispomenon as τιμάω, its future ἄσω, unlike τιμήσω, is regular

Parallels

Lexicon Artis grammaticae (e codice Coislin. 345), p. 446 (Αὔω: πνέω· ἐξ οὗ καὶ Αὐλή); Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν, alpha 375 (παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω· ἡ γὰρ αὐλὴ καὶ περίφραγμα ὑπ’ ἀνέμων καταπνεῖται); Etym. Genuinum, alpha 1399 (παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, γίνεται αὐή καὶ αὐλή, ὁ περιπνεόμενος τόπος); Etym. Gudianum, alpha p. 233 ( Αὐλή· παρὰ τὸ αὔω, τὸ λάμπω, αὐή καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ λ αὐλή. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 308 (αὐλή (Λ 774)· ὁ περιτετειχισμένος καὶ ὕπαιθρος τόπος. ἄω, τὸ πνέω, <αὔω> αὐή καὶ αὐλή); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 170 (Αὐλή: Ὁ περιτετειχισμένος καὶ ὕπαιθρος τόπος. Παρὰ τὸ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, γίνεται αὐὴ, καὶ αὐλὴ, ὁ περιπνεόμενος τόπος)

Modern etymology

Αὐλή is an old derivative of the PIE root *h2wes- "to spend the night", found in Vedic vásati "he dwells" and in Engl. was. Within Greek, it is connected with the aorist ἄεσα < ἄϝεσα "I spent the night" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word is still used in Modern Greek to designate 1. the yard, 2. the court of a king, or the closest persons of an important powerful individual, sometimes meaning 'flatterers'.

Entry By

Le Feuvre