ἀ- + ἰαίνω

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Sat, 07/03/2021 - 09:39

Word-form

ἀνία

Transliteration (Word)

ania

English translation (word)

sorrow, trouble

Transliteration (Etymon)

a- + iainō

English translation (etymon)

not + to warm, to comfort

Author

Epimerismi homerici

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, alpha 346

Ed.

A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2], Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995: 59-761.

Quotation

ἀνία: ἡ λύπη· οἱονεὶ ἡ ἄνευ τοῦ ἰαίνειν οὖσα, ἡ μὴ ἰαίνουσα. Ἡρωδιανὸς δὲ (2, 289, 21) ἡ ἄνευ ἰάσεως

Translation (En)

Ania "sorrow", as though it were the one without comfort (aneu tou iainein), the one not comforting. But Herodian says it comes from "without cure" (aneu iaseōs)

Comment

From the semantic point of view, this etymology is similar to the usual etymology by ἰάομαι (see ἀνία / ἰάομαι). Formally, it implies several manipulations. It may have been originally an elliptic etymology for ἀ- + ἰάομαι with ἰαίνω given as a synonym of the latter, which then was misunderstood for an etymology in its own right

Parallels

Choeroboscus, De orthographia (epitome) p. 169 (Ἀνία: Διὰ τοῦ ι· ἀπὸ τοῦ αἴνω, τὸ σημαῖνον τὸ θεραπεύω· ἡ γὰρ ἀνία ἐστέρηται τῆς θεραπείας· καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἰέναι τὸ σημαῖνον τὸ θεραπεύεσθαι· ἡ γὰρ ἀνία ἐμποδιστική ἐστιν τοῦ  προκόπτειν· καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἄνω, ἀνύω γέγονεν ἀνία, διανυστικὴ καὶ πρακτικὴ καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ἀντιπαρακείμενον ῥῆμα διὰ τοῦ ευω διὰ τοῦ ι γράφεται, ὡς καὶ τὸ μανία· πενία· γωνία).

The anagram at the end of the line in Apollinaris' Metaphrasis Psalmorum 2.106, is probably a mere pun rather than a hint at the etymology: τειρομένους ἠκέσσαθ’ ἑόν σφισι θυμὸν ἰήνας, | θυμοβόρου δ’ ἀπέλυσε καταφθινύθοντας ἀνίης

Modern etymology

Unclear. See the various hypotheses in Beekes, EDG. The Lesbian form ὀνία makes it very unlikely that the word is a privative compound despite several attempts in that direction

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has ανία with the meaning of 'boredom, lack of interest', as well as the derived adjective ανιαρός and the noun ανιαρότητα. The Modern Greek sense is a calque from French "ennui"

Entry By

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