ὀρχέομαι
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Ὀρχήσασθαι. παρὰ τὸ ὀρέγειν καὶ ἐκτείνειν τὰς χεῖρας. ἢ παρὰ τοὺς ὄρχους, ἐν οἷς ἐχόρευον, καὶ ὁ χορὸς, ὀρχός τις ἐστὶ, κατὰ μετάθεσιν στοιχείου
Translation (En)
Orkhēsasthai "to dance": from "to stretch" (oregein) and extend the hands (kheiras); or from the ranks (orkhous) which they formed in dancing. And khoros "dance, choir" is an *orkhos "dance", as it were, through metathesis of the letter
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, omicron, p. 437 (idem); Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 1.52 (χορὸς σημαίνει δύο· χορὸς ὁ τοῦ κύκλου. καὶ ἐτυμολογεῖται ἀπὸ τοῦ τὴν χεῖρα ὀρέγειν καὶ παρέχειν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ χαρά· ἤ, ὃ καὶ κρεῖττον, παρὰ τὸ κόρος ἡ χορτασία γίνεται χορός κατὰ τροπὴν τοῦ κ εἰς χ, μεταπεσόντος καὶ τοῦ τόνου· κορεσθέντες γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀνίστανται εἰς τὸ παίζειν καὶ χορεύειν. καὶ χορὸς τὸ πλῆθος)
Comment
Χορός is explained as a metathesized form of a ghost word *ὀρχός "dance", corresponding to ὀρχέομαι as πόλεμος to πολεμέω. The explanation is straightforward in so far as it implies only one formal manipulation and the meaning of the assumed etymon is identical with that of χορός "dance". The fact that ὀρχέομαι is parsed as a compound ὀρέγω + χείρ may explain why χορός is sometimes etymologized through χείρ (see χορός / χείρ): the missing ling would be the *ὀρχός > χορός found in Orion, but not explicit in other sources. This can be confirmed by the Scholion to the Batrachomyomachia which gives for χορός the etymology τὴν χεῖρα ὀρέγειν, the one provided for ὀρχέομαι although the latter is not quoted in the scholion (see Parallels)