νεαρός + θήγειν
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
νάρθηξ
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
narthēx
English translation (word)
ferule
Transliteration (Etymon)
nearos + thēgein
English translation (etymon)
stimulate young people
Source
Idem
Ref.
Schol. vet. in Orestem 1492
Ed.
Schwartz, Scholia in Euripidem, Berlin, 1887 (repr. 1966)
Quotation
Νάρθηξ γοῦν ἐτυμολογεῖται παρὰ τὸ τοὺς νεαροὺς θήγειν, ἤτοι τοὺς νέους παῖδας ἀκονᾶν καὶ παρορμᾶν πρὸς τὰ μαθήματα
Translation (En)
Narthēx "ferule" is etymologized from tous nearous thēgein "to stimulate the young people", id est, to sharpen and encourage the young students to acquire knowledge
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Unknown, maybe Pre-Greek (according to Beekes)
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word survives as νάρθηκας, with the meanings: 1. "the introductory hall of an Orthodox church, where those who had not been baptised stood" and 2. "narthex, splint".
Entry By
Margelidon
Comment
The scholiast explains the name of the ferule, the teacher's instrument, by the metaphor of the sword being sharpened, which is the literal meaning of the verbs, θήγειν and ἀκονᾶν. He thus makes the substantive the univerbation of a verbal phrase, transposed into a VO compound, according to a process common in ancient etymology: the first syllabe of νάρθηξ comes from the noun νεαρός (it implies a formal manipulation, dropping of the [e]), while the second from the verb θήγειν. This is a functional etymology