πᾶς + λεύσσω

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Thu, 08/25/2022 - 15:58

Word-form

βασιλεύς

Transliteration (Word)

basileus

English translation (word)

king

Transliteration (Etymon)

pâs + leussō

English translation (etymon)

all + to see

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmosμ p. 69

Ed.

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

Quotation

Βασιλεύς παρὰ τὸ σίνω, σινεὺς, ὁ βλαπτικὸς, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στερητικοῦ Α, ἀσινεὺς, ὁ ἀβλαβὴς, ὃν οὐδεὶς δύναται βλάψαι, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ Ν εἰς Λ, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Β, βασιλεύς. Καὶ πόθεν ἐτυμολογεῖται; Παρὰ τὸ βάσις εἶναι ἐλέους ἢ ἐπίβασις καὶ ὕψος? δὲ (δεῖ) γὰρ ἀληθῶς βασιλέα καλοποιεῖν, ὁ δὲ κακοποιεῖ(ῶν) τύραννος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάσις εἶναι λαοῦ, οἱονεὶ ἕδρα καὶ στήριγμα· ἢ παρὰ τὸ πεπᾶσθαι λαοὺς, τουτέστι κεκτῆσθαι· ἢ παρ’ αὐτὸ (παρὰ τὸ) ἐπὶ πᾶσι λεύσσειν, καὶ πάντων προνοεῖσθαι

Translation (En)

Basileus "king" comes from sinō "to harm", *sineus "harming", and with the privative a-, *asineus "who is exempt from harm, whom nobody can harm", and through change of the [n] into [l], and addition of [b], basileus. And what is its etymology? From the fact that it is the basis of mercy (basis eleous), or its highest degree and summit, for indeed a king must do good actions, and the one who acts wrongly is a tyrant; or from the fact that he is the basis of his people (basis laoû), as though he were a seat and a support; or from the fact that he is master of the people (pepâsthai laous), that is, he owns them; or from the fact that he watches everyone (epi pâsi leussein), and foresees everything

Comment

This etymology, parsing the word as a compound, starts from an inflected form, either the nominative singular βασιλεύς or the dative plural βασιλεῦσι, the only ones that can provide a sequence [leus], which then suggested λεύσσω. Compare the etymology βασιλεύς / βάσις + λαός which also starts from an inflected form, the genitive. The king as the one who sees everything and everyone applies of course to the heavenly king in christian faith, but it could also apply to pagan divinities (such as Helios), and one may also think of the King's eye in the Persian kingdom. The verb λεύσσω is never constructed with the dative, so that the structure of the compound is abnormal by our modern standards, but Greek scholars did not pay attention to that, and in the explanation Choeroboscus uses a preposition (ἐπὶ πᾶσι). The etymology requires one formal manipulation, the change of the initial consonant

Parallels

Etym. Genuinum, beta 46 (Βασιλεύς (Ps. 2, 2)· παρὰ τὸ σίνω, τὸ βλάπτω, γίνεται σινεύς, ὁ βλαπτικός, ἀσινεύς, ὁ ἀβλαβής, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ν εἰς τὸ λ ἀσιλεύς καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ β βασιλεύς. ἢ παρὰ τὸ βαίνειν ἵλεως. ἢ παρὰ τὸ πεπᾶσθαι λαούς, ὅ ἐστι κεκτῆσθαι· πάσασθαι γὰρ τὸ κτήσασθαι, καὶ πάμματα τὰ κτήματα, καὶ Δ 433 "πολυπάμμονος". ἵν’ ᾖ πασιλεύς, καὶ βασιλεύς. ἢ ὁ περὶ τὴν βάσιν ἴλην ἔχων, τουτέστι μετὰ πλήθους ποιούμενος τὴν βάσιν καὶ τὴν ἔξοδον. ἢ ὅτι λαοῦ ἐστι βάσις καὶ στήριγμα. ἢ παρὰ τὴν βάσιν καὶ τὸ λεύσσειν, ὁ ἐν τῷ περιϊέναι περίβλεπτος. ἢ πασιλεύς τις ὤν, ὁ πάντας λεύσσων καὶ πάντων προνοῶν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 189 (idem)

Modern etymology

Unknown. The word is already attested in Mycenaean (qa-si-re-su), but has no cognate in other IE languages (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Modern Greek has βασιλεύς as a learned form, the usual form is βασιλέας / βασιλιάς "king"

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