λιμός

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Sun, 10/30/2022 - 13:00

Word-form

λοιμός

Transliteration (Word)

loimos

English translation (word)

plague

Transliteration (Etymon)

limos

English translation (etymon)

hunger

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 27

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford, 1842.

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

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

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])

Modern etymology

Within Greek, λῑμός is related to λοιμός. A connection with λιάζομαι "to retire, to fall" has been suggested (RPh 2011, Chronique d'Etymologie grecque n° 13), but is debated

Persistence in Modern Greek

Λοιμός is still used in Modern Greek to designate 1. any epidemic, infectious and fatal disease, 2. the plague (Triandafyllidis Dictionary of Modern Greek)

Entry By

Le Feuvre