λιμός
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
ἡ εὐθεῖα ὁ λοιμός. Πόθεν γίνεται; Παρὰ τὸ λιμὸς (corr. λείπω), πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Ο λοιμός
Translation (En)
The nominative is loimos "plague". Where does it come from? From limos "hunger" (corn. leipō "to leave"), through adjunction of the [o], loimos
Parallels
Etym. Genuinum, lambda 138 (Λοιμός· ἡ φθορά. παρὰ τὸ λείπω λιμὸς καὶ λοιμός. ἢ παρὰ τὸ λιμᾶν πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Ο); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 568 (Λοιγός: Ὁ ὄλεθρος. Παρὰ τὸ λείπω λοιπὸς καὶ λοιγός· λεῖψιν γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐργάζεται. Τὸ δὲ λοιμὸς σημαίνει τὴν λοιμικὴν νόσον· μεταφορικῶς δὲ τὸν βλαπτικὸν ἀέρα, γίνεται γὰρ παρὰ τὸ λείπω λοιπὸς, καὶ λοιμὸς ἡ φθορά. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ λίαν μᾶν, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ο. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ λιμός. Λιμὸς μέν ἐστιν ἔνδεια σίτου· λοιμὸς δὲ, ἔνδεια τῶν σωμάτων); Etym. Gudianum, lambda, p. 360 (Λαιμὸς εἴρηται ὅτι πλεονάζειν ποιεῖ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῆς τροφῆς, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ λοιμὸς πλεονάζειν ποιεῖ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν ζώων [elliptic etymology: ἔνδειαν τῶν ζώων = ἔνδεια τῶν σωμάτων of the Etym. Mgnum])
Comment
From λιμός "hunger", which, weakens man, one derives λοιμός "plague", which also weakens man, through a simple formal change. The etymology has been later on corrected in Choeroboscus' text and λιμός replaced by λείπω (superscriptum), which is the etymology best attested for λοιμός (see λοιμός / λείπω), and is anyway also the etymology usually assumed for λιμός (see λιμός / λείπω). However, the precision πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Ο λοιμός implies that the first etymology proposed was λιμός. Both words are very often found in a coordinative syntagm λιμὸς καὶ λοιμός, starting with Hesiod, Op. 243, and Greek etymologists often considered that syntagmatic collocation was a hint at an etymological relationship