ἀ- + ἴπτομαι
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Ed.
Quotation
Αἶψα· ταχέως· εἴρηται κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ ἶψαι, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ βλάψαι, τὸ δὲ βλάψαι καὶ ἐμποδίζειν ἀνάγκη, τὸ δὲ ἀνεμπόδιστον ταχὺ γίνεται
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.
Parallels
Etym. Genuinum, alpha 262 (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); Etym. Gudianum, Kallierges p. 41 (idem); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 97 (idem); Etym. Symeonis (αἶψα· ταχέως· κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ ἶψαι, τοῦ σημαίνοντος τὸ βλάψαι· τὸ γὰρ βλάπτον καὶ ἐμποδίζον ἀνάγκη, τὸ δὲ ἀνεμπόδιστον κατὰ τὴν συνέχειαν)
Comment
This etymology parses the word as a privative compound of a very rare word, a verb attested in Homer under the form of the middle aorist ἴψαο (Il. 1.454) "you oppressed" which provides the sequence [ipsa]. The assumption is that what is not oppressed is quick: the verb has to be taken in a passive meaning, although the passive is never attested in Greek – a consequence of the indifference of Greek etymologists to diathesis. The Etym. Symeonis mixes this etymology with the competing one by ἅπτω