δαμάζω

Validation

Yes

Word-form

damar

Transliteration (Word)

damar

English translation (word)

spouse, wife

Transliteration (Etymon)

damazō

English translation (etymon)

to tame

Author

Apollonius Gram.

Century

3/2 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Nomina aetatum 279.21

Ed.

Miller, "Opuscules divers," Lexica Graeca Minora, 1965

Quotation

Δμῶες· οἱ δοῦλοι […], ἀπὸ τοῦ δεδμῆσθαι καὶ οἱονεὶ δαμάζεσθαι· ἐντεῦθεν καὶ δάμαρ, ἡ ὅμευνος

Translation (En)

Dmōes: the slaves, from the fact that they are submitted and so to speak tamed (damazesthai), whence also damar "spouse", the wife

Comment

The etymology relies on the phonetic similarity, on the notion of marital authority and on the recurring use of the adjective admētē "untamed" for a virgin in Homer, which implies a contrario that the married woman is "tamed"

Parallels

D Scholion Iliad 3.122; Apollonius Soph., Lexicon homericum, Bekker p. 56, 13 (δάμαρ ἀνδρὸς γυνή, ἀπὸ τοῦ δεδαμάσθαι τῷ άνδρί); Eustathius, Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 4, 333, 2 (διὸ καὶ δάμαρ λέγεται, ὡς αὐτὴ δαμαζομένη τῷ ἀνδρί); Etymologicum Gudianum, delta p. 333 (δάμαρ, δάμαρτος· ἡ γαμετή· παρὰ τὸ δαμάζεσθαι καὶ ὑποτάσσεσθαι τῷ ἀνδρί); Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, omega 1889.

Modern etymology

Unclear, may be derived from the name of the "house" domos (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word does not survive in Modern Greek

Entry By

Le Feuvre