ὀρέγω + χείρ
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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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 rows in which they were dancing – and the choir (khoros) is an *orkhos "dance", as it were, through metathesis of the letter
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, omicron, p. 437 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 634 (Ὀρχηστής: Τὴν τάξιν τῆς φυτείας ὀρχοὺς εἰώθασι λέγειν οἱ ποιηταί· καὶ οἱ ὀρχησταὶ ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι κατὰ τὴν τῶν βοτρύων συγκομιδὴν ἐν τοῖς τόποις τούτοις, ἐπειδὰν ἔτυχον τρυγῶντες, ἀπήρχοντο τῷ θεῷ χορεύοντες, καθάπερ κωμῳδοί· ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ ὀρχῶ ὀρχήσω. Οἱ δὲ, παρὰ τὸ ὀρέγειν καὶ ἐκτείνειν τὰς χεῖρας, κατὰ τροπὴν τοῦ γ εἰς χ); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, omicron, p. 1471-2 (idem)
Bibliography
On the relationship between ὀρχέομαι "to dance" (in a row) and ὄρχος "row", see Le Feuvre, Ὅμηρος δύσγνωστος. Réinterprétations de termes homériques à date archaïque et classique, Geneva, Droz, 2015, p. 520
Comment
Descriptive etymology: dancers often join hands, therefore stretch their arms/hands. The etymology follows the acrophonic principle, only the beginning of each element is kept in the compound, [or] for ὀρέγω, [khe] for χείρ, but the Etym. Magnum provides a different formal hypothesis, assuming the χ of ὀρχέομαι arose through a modification of the [g] in ὀρέγω and is not the initial consonant of χείρ (see Parallels)