ἅπτω

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Fri, 06/04/2021 - 15:04

Word-form

αἶψα

Transliteration (Word)

aipsa

English translation (word)

quickly

Transliteration (Etymon)

haptō

English translation (etymon)

to fasten, to bind, to join

Author

Etym. Genuinum

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Etym. Genuinum, alpha 262

Ed.

F. Lasserre and N. Livadaras, Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum una cum magna grammatica. Etymologicum magnum auctum, vol. 2, Athens: Parnassos Literary Society, 1992

Quotation

Αἶψα· ταχέως· εἴρηται κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ ἶψαι, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ βλάψαι, τὸ δὲ βλάψαι καὶ ἐμποδίζειν ἀνάγκη, τὸ δὲ ἀνεμπόδιστον ταχὺ γίνεται. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἅψω, αἶψα· δοκεῖ γὰρ τὰ ταχέως γινόμενα ἀλλήλων ἅπτεσθαι κατὰ τὴν συνέχειαν 

Translation (En)

Aipsa "quickly"; It comes from the privation of ipsai ("to press hard"), which means "to harm": as by necessity to harm also means to hinder (empodizein, "to put the feet in bonds"), and what is not hindered is quick. Or from haptō "to bind", aipsa, for it seems that events happening quickly are bound together in continuity

Comment

Paronymic etymology paying no attention to the initial aspiration of the assumed etymon ἅπτω. The starting point is the future ἅψω, which provides the [s]. The further step, the insertion of an [i], remains implicit. From the semantic pont of view, the etymology relies on the transposition of spatial contiguity ("to touch, to join") to temporal contiguity (to follow immediately)

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 41 (idem); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 97 (idem); Epimerismi homerici Il. 1.303 (αἶψα: παρὰ τὸ ἅπτω †ἅψ καὶ αἶψα); Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 60 (παρὰ τὸ ἅπτω ἅψα καὶ αἶψα· σημαίνει δὲ τὸ ταχέως γινόμενον); Etym. Gudianum Additamenta, alpha, p. 60 (⟦Αἶψα· ἐπίρρημα· σημαίνει τὸ ταχέως. παρὰ τὸ ἅψασθαι· δοκεῖ γὰρ⟧ τ⟦ὰ⟧ ταχέως ⟦γινόμενα⟧ ἀλλή⟦λων ἅπτεσθαι διὰ τὴν συνέ⟧χειαν); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 2, 336 Van der Valk (κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς οἱ ἀδελφὰς γυναῖκας ἔχοντες καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι αἰέλιοι, κατὰ τὸ ἀεί αἰεί καὶ [κατὰ τὸ ἀζόκροτος] αἰζόκροτος, ἡ ξηρασία, παρὰ τὴν ἄζην, καὶ ἅψα αἶψα καὶ ἀζηός αἰζηός)

Modern etymology

Unclear. Maybe related within Greek to αἰπύς "steep" (Beekes, EDG, assumes a Pre-Greek form)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre