εὕω

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἑστία

Transliteration (Word)

hestia

English translation (word)

hearth

Transliteration (Etymon)

heuō

English translation (etymon)

to singe, to burn

Author

Scholia in Euripidem

Century

Varia

Source

Idem

Ref.

Scholia in Euripides Hecubam 22

Ed.

Schwartz, Scholia in Euripidem, 1887 (repr. 1966)

Quotation

ἑστία: […] ἀπὸ τοῦ εὕω τὸ φωτίζω καὶ φλογίζω, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἕζω τὸ κάθημαι. […] ἑστία λέγεται ὁ τόπος ἔνθα ἅπτεται τὸ πῦρ

Translation (En)

Hestia "hearth": […] from heuō "to lighten" and "to burn", or from hezō "to sit". […] Hestia is the place where the fire is lit

Comment

Functional etymology: the hearth's function is to keep fire burning. From the formal point of view, its starting point is a stigmatic form of the verb, either the future εὕσω or the aorist εὗσα, and the etymology implies dropping of the [u]. This etymology does not try to account for the Ionic form ἱστίη and was designed for the Attic variant ἑστία

Parallels

There is no parallel

Modern etymology

Isolated within Greek. The initial /w/ is warranted by epigraphy. Cognate with Lat. Vesta despite Beekes' skepticism

Persistence in Modern Greek

Εστία is used in MG as: 1. a learned word for 'fireplace', 2. 'homeland', 3. the place where something begins and is therefore spread, 4. the part of a device where heat develops, 5. a certain point in physics/maths/geology

Entry By

Le Feuvre