ὀστέον + φύω
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English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
(Orion) Ὀσφύς. ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης, ἡ ἴση πρὸς τὸ ἄνω καὶ κάτω πεφυκυῖα, οἷον ἴσοφυς. ὡς δὲ Ἀπολλόδωρος, ὀστοφυὴς, ὅτι ὀστώδης
Translation (En)
Osphus "loin": as Aristotle says, it is the bone which is by nature equal with respect to the upper part and the lower part, as though it were *isophus. But as Apollodorus says, it is the "bony" one (*ostophuēs), because of its "bony nature" (ostōdēs)
Parallels
Meletius, De natura hominis p. 111 (λέγεται καὶ ὀστοφυὴς ἡ ὀσφύς· ὀστώδης γάρ ἐστιν ὅλος ὁ τόπος αὐτῆς); Etym. Gudianum, omicron, p. 438 (Ὀσφὺς λέγεται τὸ τρίτον μέρος τῆς ῥάχεως· ἡ γὰρ ῥάχις τρεῖς ἐπωνυμίας ἔχει· ἡ πρώτη καλεῖται αὐχὴν, ἡ δὲ δεύτερα ἰξὶν, ἡ δὲ τρίτη ὀσφύς· οἱονεὶ ὀστοφυὴς, ὀστωδὴς γὰρ τόπος ἐστί· γίνεται παρὰ τὸ ἶσος καὶ τὸ φύω, ἰσοφύς τις οὖσα· ἢ ὀστοφυὴς ὅτι ὀστώδης, κατὰ συναίρεσιν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 636 (Ὀσφύς: Ῥάχις, καὶ ψύα· ὡς μὲν Ἀριστοτέλης, ἡ ἴση πρὸς τὰ ἄνω ἐμπεφυυῖα, ἰσόσφύς τις οὖσα· ὡς δὲ Ἀπολλόδωρος, οἱονεὶ ὀστοφυής τις οὖσα· ὀστώδης γάρ); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, omicron, p. 1474 (idem)
Comment
As in the competing etymology by Aristotle, this one parses the word as a compound of φύω. The difference lies in the identification of the first element of the compound, which for Apollodorus is ὀστέον "bone". That implies that only the first syllable of the word was retained in the compound, which agrees with the acrophonic principle frequently used in Greek etymologies, in the footsteps of Plato's Cratylus. However, of course, defining a bone through the fact that it is of a bony nature is not a very precise definition