ὀρούω

Validation

Yes

Word-form

οὐρανός

Transliteration (Word)

ouranos

English translation (word)

sky

Transliteration (Etymon)

orouō

English translation (etymon)

to rush forward

Author

Achilles Tatius (Astron.)

Century

3 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Isagoga excerpta 5

Ed.

E. Maass, Commentariorum in Aratum reliquiae, Berlin: Weidmann, 1898 (repr. 1958)

Quotation

οὐρανὸς δὲ ἠτυμολόγηται, ἤτοι ἐπεὶ ὅρος παλαιός ἐστιν ἢ ἐπεὶ σφαιροειδὴς ὢν ἔνδοθεν αὑτοῦ ἡμᾶς οὐρεῖ, ὅ ἐστι φυλάσσει, ἢ ἐπεὶ ἀνώτατός ἐστι (τῶι δὲ ὅρωι τὸ ἄνω δηλοῦν Φρυγῶν ἴδιον, ὡς Νεοπτόλεμος ἐν ταῖς Φρυγίαις φωναῖς [Meineke Anal Al p. 360]) ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁρᾶσθαι ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀρούειν (κινεῖται γάρ) ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ οὖρος εἶναι καὶ ἔσχατος ὅρος

Translation (En)

Ouranos "sky" has for etymology the fact that it is an old boundary, or the fact that, being spheric, he guards (oureî), that is, he keeps us within itself; or the fact that it is the highest (and the word horōi meaning "up" is specific to Phrygian, as Neoptolemus says in his Phrygian language); or the fact that it is seen (horâsthai); or the fact that it "rushes forward" (orouei), because it is moving; or the fact that it is the limit and the last boundary

Comment

This etymology refers probably to the apparent move of the sky, but the Vitae Arati give another explanation, namely, that sky arose before the other elements (see Parallels). An etymon matching more or less the lemma has then been invented. As other etymologies, it implies a formal manipulation, changing the initial [o] into [ou]. The etymology does not say anything about the end of the word, which was probably analyzed as a derivative rather than a compound

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 642 (Οὐρανίσκος: Ἢ ἡ ὅρασις ἄνω, ἢ ὁ ὁρώμενος ἄνω· ἢ ὅτι ὀρούει ἄνω. Ὑποκοριστικὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σωματικοῦ μέρους, οἱονεὶ ὁ μικρὸς οὐρανός); Vitae Arati et varia de Arato 3 (ed. E. Maas) (ὠνόμασται παρὰ τὸ ὀρούειν, ὅ ἐστιν ὁρμᾶν· προώρμησε γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς τῶν ἄλλων στοιχείων)

Modern etymology

Proto-Greek *(ϝ)ορσανός, derived from PIE *worso-, cf. Vedic varṣá- [n., m.] "rain" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Ουρανός is still used in MG to denote: a) the 'sky' in general and b) the 'heavens' (Triandafyllidis, Dictionary of MG)

Entry By

Le Feuvre