onomatopoeic

Word

Validation

Yes

Word-form

βρέχω

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

[br]

Transliteration (Word)

brekhō

English translation (word)

to rain

Transliteration (Etymon)

[br]

English translation (etymon)

[sound]

Author

Epaphroditus of Chaeroneia

Century

1 AD

Source

Etym. Genuinum

Ref.

Etym. Genuinum, beta 251

Ed.

F. Lasserre and N. Livadaras, Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum una cum magna grammatica. Etymologicum magnum auctum, vol. 2, Athens: Parnassos Literary Society, 1992

Quotation

Βρέχειν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὑδάτων· ὅθεν καὶ Ὅμηρος †ὠνοματοπεποίηται Ν 181· ‘ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ βράχε’. οὕτως Ἐπαφρόδιτος (fr. novum). ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω βλῶ καὶ βρῶ, βρέχω 

Translation (En)

Brekhein "to rain": after the sound of the water; from where Homer created (Il. 13.181) ‘amphi de hoi brakhe’. This is what Epaphroditus says. Or from ballō "to throw", blô and brô, brekhō

Comment

The verb is assumed to be imitative, [br] imitating a roar-like sound, as in modern grrr. Therefore it has no etymon in the Greek sense, that is, it cannot be derived from a real Greek word. From βρέχω is supposed to be derived the Homeric aorist βράχε "resounded", which shows the same consonant structure, and which is explicitly given as an artificial creation (ὀνοματοποιΐα, ὀνοματοποιέω in Greek mean "creation of a word", not "onomatopoeia in the modern sense). The derivation of βράχε from βρέχω is found in other sources. Eustathius (see Parallels) sees the two verbes as one and the same, βρέχω  being the present and βράχε the aorist

Parallels

Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 498 (βρέχειν· ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὑδάτων, ὅθεν καὶ Ὅμηρος (Ν 181)· ὠνοματοπεποίηται ἡ λέξις (l. c.)· ‘ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ βράχε τεύχεα ποικίλα χαλκῷ’. ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω <ἢ βέλω> βλῶ καὶ βρῶ <καὶ> βρέχω); corrupt in Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 211 (Βρέχω: Ὁ μέλλων, βρέξω· γίνεται παρὰ τὸ βρόχος. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω, βλῶ· καὶ βρῶ, βρέχω, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὑδάτων. Ὅθεν καὶ Ὅμηρος, ‘βράχεν ὕδατα’. Ὀνοματοποιΐα ἐστί); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, beta, p. 409 (τὸ δὲ βρέχειν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τοῦ ὕδατος, ὀνοματοποιΐα ἡ λέξις. [καὶ Ὅμηρος· ‘ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ βρέχεν’. ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάλλω, βαλλῶ, καὶ βρῶ, βρέχω]); D Schol. Il. 13.181 Heyne (Βράχε τεύχεα. Ὠνοματοπεποίηκεν. Ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ τὸ βρέχειν ὠνόμασται) [but Van Thiel 2014 has Ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ τοῦ βράχειν ὠνόμασται]; Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 777 Van der Valk (ὠνοματοπεποίηται δὲ τὸ ἔβραχεν, ὡς καὶ τὸ βρέχω. κεῖται δὲ ἐπὶ ὅπλων κτύπου ἡ λέξις ἐν δευτέρῳ ἀορίστῳ διὰ τὴν τοῦ α εὐρυφωνίαν, οὐκέτι μέντοι καὶ ὁ ἐνεστώς, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ ὑετοῦ μόνου λαμβάνεται); ibid., 3, 457 Van der Valk (Ὅτι τοῦ ἔβραχε πολλαχοῦ τῆς ποιήσεως κειμένου χρῆσις κἀνταῦθα ἐν τῷ «ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ βράχε τεύχεα ποικίλα χαλκῷ». δῆλον δ’ ὅτι διαφόρων ὄντων τοῦ βρέχειν καὶ βράχειν, ἐκείνου μὲν εὕρηται καὶ μέλλων καὶ λοιπὴ κλίσις, ἧς καὶ τὸ «ἐβρέχθη ἡ γῆ», ὃ καὶ ἐβράχη λέγεται κοινότερον)

Modern etymology

Isolated in Greek. Cognate with Latv. merga "soft rain" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The verb is still used in Modern Greek with the meaning: 1. to make something wet, 2. to cool with a little water, 3. in 3rd singular (βρέχει) with the meaning 'it rains'.

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