νέρθεν
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
νάρθηξ
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
narthēx
English translation (word)
fore-court (of a church)
Transliteration (Etymon)
nerthen
English translation (etymon)
from beneath
Century
9 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etym. parvum, nu, 4
Ed.
R. Pintaudi, Etym. parvum, Milan, 1973
Quotation
Νάρθηξ· παρὰ τὸ νέρθεν τοὺ ἀμβῶνος εἶναι
Translation (En)
Narthēx "fore-court of a church": from being nerthen "from beneath" of the ambo
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, nu, 403: Νάρθηξ, παρὰ τὸ νέρθεν τοῦ ἄμβωνος εἶναι· ἔστι καὶ σκεῦος ἰατρικόν. Etym. magnum, 597, 54: Νάρθηξ: Σημαίνει δύο· τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας νάρθηκα, καὶ γίνεται παρὰ τὸ νέρθεν εἶναι τοῦ ἄμβωνος. Σημαίνει καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ κοινῇ συνηθείᾳ λεγόμενον νάρθηκα· καὶ γίνεται παρὰ τὸ νεαρὸν νεάρηξ καὶ νάρθηξ. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ναρὸν, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ ὑγρὸν, νάρηξ, καὶ νάρθηξ. Νάρθηξ ἐστὶ καὶ ἰατρικόν τι τεῦχος· κυρίως, τὸ ἐκ νάρθηκος γεγενημένον·καταχρηστικῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐξ οἱασδήποτε ὕλης
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 Etymologicum parvum explains the name νάρθηξ as an only architectural substantive, that designates the byzantine ante-church (ἐν τοῖς προδόμοις τοῦ ἱεροῦ, says the Suda, Lexicon, π 2367) just beneath the ambo, that is the elevated area in front of the iconostasis. The etymon is a place-adverb νέρθεν (usually ἔνερθε)