ταφών
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Οἱ δὲ τάπητες πολλαχοῦ φαίνονται ὑποκεῖσθαι κατά τι εἶδος στρωμνῆς, ὁποῖα ἴσως καὶ τὰ καλούμενα ἐπεύχια. διὸ καὶ ἡ πολλὴ ἐτυμολογία ἐκ τοῦ πατεῖσθαι αὐτὰ παράγει. εἰ δέ τις μάθοι ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς τὸ «δέμνια θεῖναι καὶ ῥήγεα ἐμβαλεῖν στορέσαι τ’ ἐφύπερθε τάπητας» (Ω 645) ἕτερόν τι νοήσει τοὺς τάπητας, οὓς οἱ παλαιοὶ μεταβολεῖς τῶν λέξεων ἓν πρὸς ἓν φράζοντες ἐφαπλώματα ἑρμηνεύουσι, συγκροτούμενοι ἐκ τοῦ «ἐφύπερθεν». καὶ ἀργεῖ ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἐκ τοῦ πατεῖν ἐτυμολογία. κρεῖττον δὲ ἢ ἐκ τοῦ θάλπω εἰπεῖν κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς θάλπης, καὶ μεταθέσει Ἰωνικῇ καὶ ἐκβολῇ τοῦ λ, τάπης, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ταφών, ὁ ἐκπλαγεὶς τάφης καὶ τάπης ὁ τὸν ὁρῶντα ἐκπλήττων.
Translation (En)
The carpets (tapētes) are often said to be placed below something, in the manner of a mattress, maybe similar to what we call epeukhia. This is why the usual etymology derives their name from pateîsthai "to be treaded on". But if one read in what follows the line "to put mattresses and blankets, and to put carpets over them" (Il. 24.645), he will understand the carpets as something different, which the ancients, through literal word to word translation, explain as covers (ephaplōmata), figuring it out from the "over" (ephuperthen). And here the etymology by pateîn "to tread on" does not work. It is better to say the word comes from thalpō "to heat", with the ancient scholars, *thalpēs, and through Ionic metathesis and dropping of the [l], tapēs, or from taphōn "astonished", the one who is astonished, *taphēs and tapēs, that which astonishes the one who sees it.
Parallels
There is no parallel
Comment
The carpet is etymologized as the thing which "astonishes" those who see it, in a reference to a very elaborate and finely worked carpet of Byzantine times. However, ταφών is always intransitive "astonished", whereas here Eustathius assumes a transitive causative value "astonishing". But Greek etymologists did not pay attention to that syntactic feature in their explanations. From the formal point of view, it implies only a change of aspirate [ph] to non aspirate [p].