ἐντός

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἔντερον

Transliteration (Word)

enteron

English translation (word)

intestine, gut

Transliteration (Etymon)

entos

English translation (etymon)

inside

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 310

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford 1848

Quotation

Ἔγκατα: Τὰ ἔντερα· ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐγκατέχειν τὴν  τροφήν· λέγει δὲ τὸ ἧπαρ, καὶ τὸν σπλῆνα, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν πνεύμονα. Ἔντερον δὲ, οὐκ ἔγκατον. Τὸ δὲ ἔντερον, οἷον ἕτερον καὶ οὐχ ὅμοιον· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἐντὸς κεῖσθαι τῶν μελῶν

Translation (En)

Enkata "entrails": from the fact that they retain food in themselves. This applies to what is next to the liver, the spleen and the lung. But the intestine (enteron) is not an entrail: the intestine is as though it were 'the other one' (heteron), not similar; or it comes from the fact that it is situated inside (entos) the body

Comment

If the last clause ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἐντὸς κεῖσθαι τῶν μελῶν is an explanation of ἔντερον, this is a variant of Herodian's etymology through ἐν (see ἔντερον / ἐν). The word is derived from ἐντός, that is, the [t] belongs to the etymon, whereas it did not in Herodian's etymology. If on the other hand it is an explanation of ἔγκατα (the lemma), over the development about ἔντερον, it is not relevant. The latter hypothesis is more likely.

Parallels

Etym. Symeonis, epsilon 27 Baldi (idem)

Modern etymology

Ἔντερον is connected within Greek with ἐντός and ἐν and goes back to an inherited *h1entero- "inside part", derivative of *h1en "in" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Modern Greek still has έντερο in vernacular and medical vocabulary to designate the digestive tube beginning from the stomach. There also is εντερο- as first compound, such as in εντεροπάθεια, εντερολογία etc.

Entry By

Le Feuvre