εἴρω1

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Mon, 11/01/2021 - 15:30

Word-form

εἰρήνης

Transliteration (Word)

eirēnē

English translation (word)

peace

Transliteration (Etymon)

eirō

English translation (etymon)

to fasten

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 192

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford, 1842:

Quotation

Εἰρήνης, παρὰ τὸ εἴρω, τὸ λέγω, ἡ πανταχοῦ λαλουμένη, ἢ παρὰ τὸ εἴρω τὸ συμπλέκω

Translation (En)

Eirēnēs "of peace": from eirō "to speak", the one which is celebrated everywhere, or from eirō "to bind together"

Comment

This etymology is attested later than the etymology through εἴρω "to speak". It starts from the latter and innovates in relating the word to the homonym verb εἴρω "to fasten". Peace is thus described as uniting people whereas war or quarrel divides them. The end of the word remains unaccounted for in this basic version. A more elaborate version of this etymology is found in later authors (Eustathius, Etym. Symeonis, see Parallels) and accounts for the end of the word by parsing the word as a compound "uniting into one", with the numeral ἕν "one" as the second element of the compound

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, epsilon, p. 427 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 35 Van der Valk (οὕτω δὲ καὶ συμπλοκὴ ἡ μέν τίς ἐστιν ἐπὶ φιλίᾳ καὶ ἑνώσει, ὅπερ καὶ εἰρήνη λέγεται παρὰ τὸ εἰς ἓν εἴρεσθαι); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 2, 260 Stallbaum (καλῶς ἄρα ὁ κατ’ οἶνον Διόνυσος Λυαῖος ἐπωνομάσθη, ὅ ἐστι στασιαστὴς, παρὰ τὴν λύην ἤγουν στάσιν, ᾗ ἐναντίον ἡ εἰρήνη. αὕτη μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τὸ εἴρειν εἰς ἓν γέγονεν, ἐκείνη δὲ παρὰ τὸ λύειν); Etym. Symeonis, epsilon 183 (Εἰρήνη· παρὰ τὸ εἴρειν καὶ συμπλέκειν ποτὲ εἰς ἕνωσιν); Scholia in Batrachomyomachia 102, Moschopoulos (ὥσπερ αὖ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου εἰρήνη, ἡ εἴρουσα καὶ ἡ συμπλέκουσα εἰς ἕν)

Modern etymology

Unclear

Persistence in Modern Greek

Yes

Entry By

Le Feuvre