ἔπειμι

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ὀπός

Transliteration (Word)

opos

English translation (word)

juice, sap

Transliteration (Etymon)

epeimi

English translation (etymon)

to be upon

Author

Apollonius Soph.

Century

1 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Lexicon, omicron, p. 122

Ed.

I. Bekker, Apollonii Sophistae Lexicon Homericum, Berlin, 1833

Quotation

ὀπός τὸ τῶν δένδρων δάκρυον· ὅθεν καὶ σμύρνα καὶ λίβανος οὕτως λέγεται. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου καὶ ἡ ὀπώρα λέγεται, ὅτι ὀπὸς αὐτὴν ὠρεῖ, τουτέστι φυλάσσει. οὐκ ἀπιθάνως μὲν οὖν· τὸ γὰρ καθολικὸν τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· ἐπὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐπεῖναι κατὰ τὴν ἀποτομήν

Translation (En)

Opos "juice, sap" means the tears of the trees. And from there are named the myrrh and the incense. From there is also named opōra "summer", because the sap keeps it, that is, saves it. This is not incredible: such is the case universally. <O>pos is named after the fact that it is "present" (epeinai) when the wood is cut

Comment

The same explanation is reported by the Etym. Magnum (see Parallels), which attributes it or part of it to Apion (fr. 87). Apion is not quoted in the transmitted version of Apollonius' Lexicon homericum. However, it is clear that Apion derived ὀπώρα from ὀπός (first part of the explanation), but not certain that he also derived ὀπός from ἐπεῖναι, which may be Apollonius' etymology or an etymology he found in another author. The etymology relies, from the formal point of view, on the alternation between [e] and [o] (we would say between e grade and o grade), although here we are dealing, not with the root, but with a preverb for the assumed etymon, ἐπι-. The transmitted form *ἐπός in Apollonius' text as transmitted is either erroneous (the Etym. Magnum has ὀπός), or implies an intermediate step in the derivation ἔπειμι → *ἐπός → ὀπός

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 628 (Ὀπός: Ἀπίων τὸ τῶν δένδρων δάκρυον· ὅθεν καὶ ἡ σμύρνα καὶ ὁ λίβανος οὕτω λέγεται. Ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ ἡ ὀπώρα, ὅτι ὀπὸς αὐτὴν ὠρεῖ, ὅ ἐστι φυλάσσει· οὐκ ἀπιθάνως· ὀπὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐπεῖναι κατὰ τὴν ἐπιτομήν)

Modern etymology

Within Greek, ὀπός is related to the derivatives ὄπιον "opium", ὀπίζω "to press out the juice". Cognate with Rus. sok "juice". PIE *sokwo- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Modern Greek still has οπός as a learned word for "sap". The usual word is χυμός, meaning also "juice"

Entry By

Le Feuvre