ἀ- + εἶμι

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Last modification

Sun, 07/04/2021 - 13:49

Word-form

ἀνία

Transliteration (Word)

ania

English translation (word)

sorrow, trouble

Transliteration (Etymon)

a- + eimi

English translation (etymon)

not + to go

Author

Plato

Century

4 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Cratylus 419c3

Ed.

Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903

Comment

The word is parsed as a privative compound of εἶμι "to go", despite the fact that if it were so, the word would mean "not going", whereas Plato assigns the meaning "preventing to go", that is, "making not to go", a causative meaning. The verb "to go" is restricted to the [i] of ἀνία. This explanation is not very often found in later sources

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 τὸ σημαῖνον τὸ θεραπεύεσθα was introduced wrongly from another etymological explanation]); Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 148 (Ἀνία· παρὰ τὸ ἰέναι, τὸ πορεύεσθαι, μετὰ τοῦ στερητικοῦ α· ἐμποδιστικὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀνία τοῦ προκόπτειν. ἢ σημαίνει τὴν χαλεπωτάτην καὶ δυσίατον λύπην, καὶ γίνεται παρὰ τὸ ἰῶ, τὸ θεραπεύω, ἴα καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στερητικοῦ α ἀΐα· καὶ πολλάκις πέφυκεν πλεονάζειν τὸ ν ἐν ταῖς στερήσεσιν, οἷον ἀαιδής ἀναιδής, ἀαίμων ἀναίμων); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 109 (Δύναται δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰέναι γίνεσθαι. Ἐμποδιστικὸν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀνία)

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"

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