νη- + ἄνεμος

Validation

Yes

Word-form

νήνεμος

Transliteration (Word)

nēnemos

English translation (word)

without wind

Transliteration (Etymon)

nē- + anemos

English translation (etymon)

non + wind

Author

Scholia in Euripidem

Source

Idem

Ref.

Schol. in Hec. 533

Ed.

W. Dindorf, Scholia Graeca in Euripidis tragoedias, 1863

Quotation

νήνεμος ἐτυμολογεῖται ἀπὸ τοῦ νη στερητικοῦ μορίου καὶ τοῦ ἀνέμου.

Translation (En)

Nēnemos "without wind" comes from the negative particle nē and anemos "wind".

Comment

This etymology is clear and analyzing the adjective νήνεμος as a negative compound is not false, but only almost exact, because the right analysis would have been ν- ἄνεμος, the negative element having been reanalyzed as νη- as in νη-κερδής, "without gain".

Parallels

Lexicogr. Συναγωγὴ λέξεων χρησίμων (νήνεμος· ἄνεμον οὐκ ἔχων); Photius, Lexicon, Nu 298, 19 (Νήνεμος· ἄνεμον οὐκ ἔχων); Lexica Segueriana, Collectio verborum utilium e differentibus rhetoribus et sapientibus multis, nu 308, 26 (νήνεμος· ἄνεμον οὐκ ἔχων); Suda, nu 319, 1 (Νήνεμος· ἄνεμον οὐκ ἔχων).

Modern etymology

Privative compound of ἄνεμος, cognate with Lat. animus, Ved. ániti "he blows" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

In Modern Greek there is the noun νηνεμία, designating: 1. 'the absence of winds in the sea', 2. (metaphor.) 'the absence of arguments and fightings'.

Entry By

Margelidon