λίαν
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
λίς
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
lis
English translation (word)
lion
Transliteration (Etymon)
lian
English translation (etymon)
excessively
Century
before 6 AD
Source
Scholia vetera in Homeri Iliadem
Ref.
A Scholion Il. 15.275b
Ed.
H. Erbse, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem (scholia vetera), vols. 1-5, 7, Berlin: De Gruyter, 1969-1988
Quotation
λίς: παρὰ τὸ λιαρόν, ἢ τὸ ἑλεῖν, ἢ τὸ λεῖον· λεῖος γὰρ ὅλος πλὴν τῆς χαίτης. ἢ παρὰ τὸ λίαν φθείρειν. A b (BCE3)T
Translation (En)
Lis "lion": from liaros "warm", or from heleîn "to seize", or from leios "smooth", because the animal is entirely smooth except for the mane. Or from the fact that it destroys a lot (lian phtheirein).
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, lambda, p. 371 (Λὶς, ὁ λέων, παρὰ τὸ λίαν ἐπίῤῥημα, ὁ λίαν βλέπων, διὰ τοῦ ἰῶτα)
Modern etymology
Rare poetic form, thought to be a loanword from Semitic (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
The derivation is purely paronymic, relying on the acrophonic principle. It links the lion with the idea of excess and high degree of anything: for the A scholion to Il. 15.275, it refers to a high degree of destruction (λίαν φθείρειν), for the Gudianum (see Parallels), to the allegedly very sharp sight of the lion. The latter etymology is intended to reconcile the two names of the animal, λέων etymologized from λάω "to see" (see λέων / λάω) and λίς from "to see with strength" λίαν βλέπειν: the lexicographer was not bothered by the fact that the notion of sight is absent from the derivation, since only the adverb λίαν is supposed to be the etymon of λίς.