ἄνθος

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἄνθραξ

Transliteration (Word)

anthrax

English translation (word)

charcoal

Transliteration (Etymon)

anthos

English translation (etymon)

flower

Author

Etym. Genuinum

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Etym. Genuinum, alpha 880

Ed.

F. Lasserre and N. Livadaras, Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum una cum magna grammatica. Etymologicum magnum auctum, vol. 1, Rome: Ateneo, 1976

Quotation

Ἄνθραξ: Τὸ ἐκκαυθὲν ξύλον καὶ ἔτι διαλαμπές. Παρὰ τὸ ἄνθος, ἄνθαξ, ὡς βῶλος βῶλαξ· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ, ἄνθραξ. Μεθόδιος. ἢ παρὰ τὸ θέρω θέραξ καὶ ἀναθέραξ, καὶ συγκοπῇ ἄνθραξ

Translation (En)

Anthrax "charcoal": the burnt wood, still glowing. From anthos "flower", *anthax, as in bôlos "clod of earth" bôlax, and through adjunction of [r], anthrax. Methodius. Or from therō "to heat", *therax and *anatherax, and through syncope anthrax.

Comment

This surprising etymology deriving "charcoal" from "flower" relies on the identical initial sequence [anth] in the two words, and may have been designed out of a particular Homeric phrase: Il. 9.212-213 had, next to the vulgate's reading αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κατὰ πῦρ ἐκάη καὶ φλὸξ ἐμαράνθη || ἀνθρακιὴν στορέσας ὀβελοὺς ἐφύπερθε τάνυσσε ("But when the fire had burned itself out, and the flames had died down, he scattered the embers apart, and extended the spits across them", trans. Lattimore), a reading αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ πυρὸς ἄνθος ἀπέπτατο, παύσατο δὲ φλὸξ || ἀνθρακιὴν στορέσας ὀβελοὺς ἐφύπερθε τάνυσσε ("but when the flower of the fire had flown away, and the flame had ceased…") quoted by Plutarch (Mor. 934b), and condemned by Aristonicus. The reading is mentioned by Eustathius (Comm. Il. 2, 704) who adds that the phrase πυρὸς ἄνθος is also found in the Prometheus bound (l. 7) attributed to Aeschylus, where it is a Homeric quotation, which implies that the reading is old enough. Starting from this reading, and applying the principle which is customary to scholiasts that a syntagmatic co-occurrence points to an etymological relationship, from the proximity of ἀνθρακίην and πυρὸς ἄνθος could be deduced the idea that ἄνθος was the etymon of ἄνθραξ – although it is clear that in the Homeric line, πυρὸς ἄνθος refers to the flame

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 109 (Ἄνθραξ: Τὸ ἐκκαυθὲν ξύλον καὶ ἔτι διαλαμπές. Παρὰ τὸ ἄνθος, ἄνθαξ, ὡς βῶλος βῶλαξ· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ, ἄνθραξ· καὶ τὸ ἀπό τινος ὕλης μεταβληθὲν καὶ μεταποιηθὲν εἰς πυρὸς φύσιν. Ἔχει δὲ ὁ ἄνθραξ φύσεις δύο, τὸ φωτιστικὸν καὶ τὸ καυστικὸν, ὡς τὸ ὕδωρ διφυᾶ ἄνθρακα δέχεται, ἤγουν φωτιστικὸν καὶ καυστικόν· φωτιστικὸν μὲν, τῶν δικαίων· καυστικὸν δὲ, τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν. Διφυὴς δὲ ἄνθραξ λέγεται ὁ Χριστὸς κατὰ ἀναγωγήν. Γίνεται δὲ παρὰ τὸ θέρω τὸ θερμαίνω, θέραξ· καὶ μετὰ τῆς ἀνὰ προθέσεως, ἀναθέραξ· καὶ συγκοπῇ ἄνθραξ)

Modern etymology

The word is isolated within Greek but has a cognate in Arm. ant‘el "charcoal" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Modern Greek still has άνθρακας, ανθρακικός and several compounds in ανθρακο-

Entry By

Le Feuvre