ἀρόω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἄρσην
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
arsēn
English translation (word)
male
Transliteration (Etymon)
aroō
English translation (etymon)
to plough
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)
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
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]