λύω + νύχος
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
Λύχνος. ὁ λύων τὸ νύχος, τουτέστι τὸ σκότος. οὕτως Ἀριστόνικος ἐν τῷ περὶ σημείων τοῦ Ὁμήρου
Translation (En)
Lukhnos ("lamp"), the one which dissolves (luōn) the *nukhos (“night”), that is, the darkness. This is what Aristonicus says in his About the signs of Homer
Parallels
Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 242 (οἷον εἰ ὁ λύχνος εἴρηται ἀπὸ τοῦ λύειν τὸ νύχος, ὀφείλομεν μαθεῖν εἰ καὶ τὸ νύχος ἀπό τινος ἑλληνικοῦ εἴρηται, καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν ἀπ’ ἄλλου); Maximus Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium 63 (λύχνος γὰρ παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος λέγεται· νύχος δὲ καλοῦσι τὸ σκότος οἱ περὶ λόγους σπουδάζοντες); Anastasius Sinaita, Viae Dux 2, 8 (λύχνος διὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος ἤγουν τὸ σκότος); Doctrina Patrum p. 262 (Λύχνος λέγεται παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νῦχος, τουτέστι τὸ σκότος, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ τὸ νὺξ καλεῖται); Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos, p. 128 (λύχνος· παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος); Etym. Genuinum, lambda 156 (παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος λυόνυχος καὶ λύχνος); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 572 (idem); Etym. Gudianum, lambda, p. 375 (Λύχνος, παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος τουτ’ ἔστι τὸ σκότος); Philagathus, Homiliae 21, 2 (λύχνος γὰρ λέγεται ἀπὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος, τουτέστιν τὸ σκότος); Etym. Symeonis, epsilon 886 (ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ λύχνος λύνυχος γὰρ λέγεται παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος, ὅ ἐστι τὸ σκότος); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon p. 1321 (παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος ἤτοι τὸ σκότος, λύνυχος καὶ λύχνος); Scholia in Batrachomyomachia 180 (λύχνος ἀπὸ τοῦ λύειν καὶ ἀφανίζειν τὸ νύχος ἤτοι τὴν νύκτα); Scholia in Oppianum, Hal. 2, 156 (λύχνος δ’ ὁ τοῦ φωτὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ λύειν τὸ νύχος ἢ τὸ σκότος); Scholia in Od. 19.34 (ἀπὸ τοῦ λύειν τὸ νύχος. λέγει δὲ τὴν δᾷδα κυρίως. τοῦ δὲ παρ’ ἡμῖν καλουμένου λύχνου τοὺς ἥρωας χρωμένους ὁ ποιητὴς οὐκ εἰσάγει οὐδὲ Ἡσίοδος μέμνηται)
Comment
This is a functional etymology which remained standard down to the Byzantine lexica (see Parallels). The word is parsed as a compound with a V-N structure, and the second element is identified as a *nukhos which is a ghost-word (although it is given by Hesychius, Lexicon, nu 757 νύχος· νύξ, and after him Photius, Lexicon, nu 302 (ed. Theodoridis) and Suda, nu 621): it was drawn from the poetic adjective nukhios "nocturnal, of the night" after the usual model polemos "war" / polemios "hostile", despite the fact that this model is regular for o-stems, but not for s-stems as *νύχος is supposed to be. Orion does not comment on the formal manipulation it implies, namely, a metathesis of n…kh. The complete process is explicit in later sources : *lu-nukhos > *lunkhos > lukhnos