ἀρόω

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἄρσην

Transliteration (Word)

arsēn

English translation (word)

male

Transliteration (Etymon)

aroō

English translation (etymon)

to plough

Author

Scholia vetera in Odysseam

Source

Idem

Ref.

Scholia in Odysseam α 1f Pontani

Ed.

F. Pontani, Scholia Graeca in Odysseam, Scholia ad libros α—β, Vol. I. Rome:Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2007

Quotation

ἀνὴρ παρὰ τὸ ἀνύειν δύνασθαι γέγονε, γυνὴ δὲ παρὰ τὸ γεννᾶν, ἄρσην δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἀρόσαι

Translation (En)

Anēr "man" comes from the fact that he is able to "accomplish" (anuein), gunē "woman" from "to beget" (gennân), arsēn "male" from "to plough, to sow" (arosai)

Comment

This functional etymology is a variant of the one which derives ἄρσην from ἄρδω "to irrigate" (see ἄρσην / ἄρδω). "To plough" metaphorically is "to sow, to fecundate". The etymology starts from the aorist infinitive arosai, which provides the [s], and implies a syncope of the [o]

Parallels

This etymology is not found as an explicit etymology elsewhere. However, it is found as an implicit etymology in Nonnus' Dionysiaca in several places, always about Kronos castrating Ouranos: Dion. 12, 45-47 (ὅσσα τέλεσσε γέρων Κρόνος, ὁππότε τέμνων | ἄρσενα πατρὸς ἄροτρα λεχώιον ἤροσεν ὕδωρ, | σπείρων ἄσπορα νῶτα θυγατρογόνοιο θαλάσσης); ibid. 41, 99 (ὁππότε νόσφι γάμων ἀρόσας ῥόον ἄρσενι λύθρῳ | αὐτοτελὴς μορφοῦτο θυγατρογόνῳ σπόρος ἀφρῷ).

Modern etymology

Ἄρσην, Attic ἄρρην, Ionic ἔρσην, is the old inherited name of the male, matching Vedic vr̥ṣan- "bull, male" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Άρρην "male" is preserved in Modern Greek as an adjective to designate the 'male', but also as a noun in "Γυμνάσιο Αρρένων".

Entry By

Le Feuvre