ἄγαν + θέω
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English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
<Ἀγαθόν> παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν θεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ, οἷον ἐφ' ᾧ ἄγαν θέομεν. ἔνθεν οὐ λέγομεν ἀγαθώτερος, οὔτε ἀγαθώτατος, ὡς ἐγκειμένου ἐπιτατικοῦ μορίου τοῦ ἄγαν, ἵνα μὴ γένωνται ἐν αὐτῷ δύο ἐπιτάσεις, ἀπό τε τοῦ ἄγαν, καὶ τῆς παραγωγῆς τῆς διὰ τοῦ <τερος>, ἀλλὰ ῥητέον, μᾶλλον ἀγαθὸς τοῦδε ὅδε
Translation (En)
Agathos ("good") comes from the fact we "run" (thein) "a lot" (agan) towards it, as if it were "to what we run a lot" (ō-agan-theomen). That is the reason why we do not say agathōteros nor agathōtatos, since agan is already a mark of intensity, and we must avoid a double emphasis in the word, i.e. from agan and from the derivation through -teros ; we must say instead : ‘this man is more excellent (māllon agathos) than that one’
Parallels
Ammonius, In Aristotelis analytica priora p. 73 (ἀγαθόν ἐστιν ἐφ’ ὃ πάντα ἄγαν θεῖ); Johannes Philoponus, De opificio mundi p. 293 (τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀγαθόν ἐστιν, ὅπερ ἂν εἴποι τις ποιητὴς ἠγάθεον, τουτέστιν ἄγαν θεῖον ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν ἐπ’ αὐτὸ θέειν); Elias, In Porphyrii isagogen p. 1 (ἀγαθὸν γὰρ εἴρηται διὰ τὸ ἄγαν θέειν ἐπ’ αὐτὸ πάντα); Methodius, Encomium in sanctam Agatham 4 (Ἀγάθη, ἡ τὸ πρὸς αὐτὴν πάνυ τρέχειν ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος πάντας πείθουσα); Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 6 De Stefani (καὶ ἀγαθός <ἀποβολῇ τοῦ <σ> καὶ> τροπῇ τοῦ <τ> εἰς <θ>· <οἱ γὰρ Ἀττικοὶ τρέπουσι τὸ <τ> εἰς <θ>>, τὸ γὰρ κρεμάστρα κρεμάθρα λέγουσιν. ‖ λέγεται δὲ ἀγαθόν <καὶ> παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν θεῖον, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν θεόν. ‖ ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν θέειν, ἐφ' ᾧ ἄγαν θέομεν ἐφιέμενοι. <Ἀγαθόν>· παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν θέειν ἐπ' αὐτὸ πάντας); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 5.19 (<Ἀγαθός>: Παρὰ τὸ ἄγαν θέειν ἡμᾶς ἐπ' αὐτο); Isaac Comnenus, De providentia et fato p. 18 (ὡς τὸ θεὸν ὁρῶν τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ἄγαν θέειν ἀγαθοῦ κεκλημένου); Schol. Od. γ 280a3 Pontani (καὶ “ἀγανὸς” ἐτυμολογεῖται ἀπὸ τοῦ “ἄγαν νέειν” εἰς αὐτὸν πάντας, ὡς καὶ “ἀγαθός” ἀπὸ τοῦ “ἄγαν θέειν” περὶ αὐτόν· τὸν γὰρ ἀγαθὸν πάντες φιλοῦντες εἰς αὐτὸν τρέχομεν)
Comment
The word is parsed as a compound with ἄγαν, supposedly the nominal counterpart of a syntagm Adverb + verb. With such a structure, we would expect a meaning “running with force”, applying to the subject, but the assumed meaning is different, “toward which/whom one runs with force", applying to the aim. Needless to say no Greek real compound has such a structure, but Greek etymologists paid no attention to the structure of compounds. The etymology implies only one formal manipulation, the dropping of [e] in -th(e)ō. For the argument of the incorrectness of agathōteros, as supporting the etymology, see ἄγαν + θεῖος. The latter point comes from Aelius Dionysius (2 AD), Attica onomata, alpha 9 (ἀγαθός· ἡ σύγκρισις ‘μᾶλλον ἀγαθός’ καὶ ἡ ὑπέρθεσις ‘μάλιστα ἀγαθός’>. ἀγαθώτερος <δὲ> καὶ ἀγαθώτατος παρ’ οὐδενὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων κεῖται), and it is striking that neither paid attention to the fact that the analytic comparative is never used in Greek for ἀγαθός: it seemed to them a lesser problem than stating that ἀγαθός had no comparative or superlative (they did not consider the suppletive comparatives ἀμείνων, βελτίων)