*δάω

Word

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Fri, 10/15/2021 - 15:00

Word-form

διδάσκω

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

didaskō

English translation (word)

to teach

Transliteration (Etymon)

*daō

English translation (etymon)

to learn

Author

Herodian

Century

2 AD

Reference

Peri pathôn, Lentz III/2, p. 178

Edition

A. Lentz, Grammatici graeci, vol. 3/2, Leipzig, 1870

Source

Etym. Magnum

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 272

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848

Quotation

διδάσκω: δαίω τὸ ἐπίσταμαι. ὁ μέλλων δαίσω. πλεονασμῷ τοῦ κ δαίσκω ὡς μεθύσω μεθύσκω καὶ κατὰ ἀναδιπλασιασμὸν διδαίσκω ὡς τρώσω τρώσκω καὶ τιτρώσκω καὶ ἀποβολῇ τοῦ ι διδάσκω

Translation (En)

Didaskō "to teach": daiō means "to know", the future is daisō. Through adjunction of [k], *daiskō, as from methusō "I will be drunk" methuskō "I become drunk", and through reduplication *didaiskō, as in trōsō "I will wound", *trōskō and titrōskō, and through dropping of the [I], didaskō

Comment

The etymology is correct although the derivation is not in the detail. The verb δαίω does not exist except as a hypothetic form invented by grammarians at a derivational base for several nouns. Notice Herodian derives the -skō presents from the future which has the advantage of providing the [s], following Philoxenus who derived many nominal and verbal forms from the future. There is a nice attempt at justifying the reduplication in Choeroboscus (see Parallels): "the teacher wants to be double"

Parallels

Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 129 (Διδάσκω· παρὰ τὸ δαίω, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ μανθάνω, ὁ μέλλων, δαίσω, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Κ δαίσκω, ὡς ὀλῶ ὀλέσω ὀλέσκω· […] καὶ γίνεται δάσκω, καὶ μετάγεται ὁ μέλλων εἰς ἐνεστῶτα, καὶ κατὰ ἀναδιπλασιασμὸν διδάσκω. Καὶ διατί ἀναδιπλασιάζεται; Ἐπειδὴ ὁ διδάσκων διπλοῦς θέλει εἶναι); Etym. Gudianum, delta, p. 361 (idem); Suda, delta 122 (Δαίω: τὸ μανθάνω. δαίσω, δαΐσκω, καὶ ἀποβολῇ τοῦ ι δάσκω· ἐπειδὴ τὰ εἰς κω κοινολεκτούμενα οὐ θέλουσι δίφθογγον ἔχειν· ἀναδιπλασιασμῷ διδάσκω καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ διδάσκαλος); ibid., delta 859 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 4, 979 (δαίω, τὸ μανθάνω, δαίσω δαίσκω, καὶ ἀναδιπλασιασμῷ καὶ ἀπελεύσει τοῦ ἰῶτα τῆς διφθόγγου, διδάσκω); Etym. Symeonis, delta 234 (same as in the Etym. Magnum); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, delta, p. 543 (Διδάσκω. δαίω τὸ ἐπίσταμαι, ἐξ οὗ ῥηματικὸν ὄνομα δαίμων, ὁ ἐν γνώσει πάντων τυγχάνων. κατὰ ἀφαίρεσιν τοῦ δ αἴμων, οἷον· ‘αἴμονα θήρης’. ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμὸς ἰωγμός. ὁ μέλλων αἴσω καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ δ δαίσκω, ὡς μεθύω, μεθύσκω, καὶ κατὰ ἀναδιπλασιασμὸν διδάσκω, ὡς τρώσω, τρώσκω, τιτρώσκω. ὁ δὲ Ἡρωδιανὸς καὶ Χρύσιππος παρὰ τὸ ἀσκεῖν τὸ σημαῖνον τὸ διδάσκω, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ δ διδάσκω)

Modern etymology

Reduplicated present from root *dens- "to learn" found in ἐδάην "I knew", δαήμων "knowing", Vedic dasrá- "wise, learned" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word survives in Modern Greek with the meanings 1. To teach, 2. To preach, give advice, 3. to prepare and present a theatrical play, especially from ancient Greek drama, a sense preserved from ancient Greek.

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