This descriptive etymology parses the word either as a compound of anō "upwards" + theō "to run", which is found in the oldest testimonies, or as a derivative from anatheō "to run upwards", found in later testimonies (see Parallels). In either case it implies only one formal manipulation, a syncope of the vowel of the adverb ἄνω or the preverb ἀνα-. Orion's formulation is truncated and is restored here after the Etym. Genuinum. The interesting part is the comment stressing the fact that the relationship between lemma and etymon is oriented and works only in one direction: the lemma is aptly described by the etymon which reveals its features, but the same etymon cannot be assumed for other words referring to objects with the same features as the lemma. This is probably an answer to critics of the naturalistic theory: in the framework of the latter, if a noun reflects the features and properties of the object, then any object having the same properties and features should bear the same name and the relationship should be bijective, which obviously is not the case. This objection is addressed by stressing the fact that the etymological relationship is asymmetrical: if A is large and named after that feature, that does not imply that every large object will be named A, as a large object B can be named after a different feature, for instance its color rather than its size. See also ἄνηθον / ἄνω + θέω and λείριον / λεῖος.

An interesting comment is found in the Etym. Genuinum, lambda 169 (s.v. λείριον): λέγει δὲ καὶ Ὦρος ὅτι οὐ τῶν ἀνθῶν δεῖ λέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀνθέων, διὰ τὴν συνέμπτωσιν τοῦ ἀνθ’ ὧν ἐπιρρήματος, ὅπερ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀντὶ προθέσεως καὶ τοῦ ὧν ὑποτακτικοῦ ἄρθρου γέγονεν "Orus says that you must not say τῶν ἄνθων "of the flowers" [Gen.plural], but τῶν ἀνθέων because of the confusion with the adverb ἄνθ᾽ ὧν "instead of which", which is formed out of the preposition ἀντί and the postpositive article [that is to say, relative pronoun] ὧν." The homophony between the prepositional phrase and the inflected noun led some grammarians to condemn the usual and regular pronunciation of the latter in favor of its Ionic variant ἀνθέων