ὑπό + νόος

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Fri, 07/01/2022 - 01:01

Word-form

ὕπνος

Transliteration (Word)

hupnos

English translation (word)

sleep

Transliteration (Etymon)

hupo + noos

English translation (etymon)

under + mind

Author

Choeroboscus

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 100

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford, 1842

Quotation

Παρὰ τὸ ὕπνος· τοῦτο ἐκ τῆς ὕπο προθέσεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦς, ὃ γέγονεν ὑπόνοος, καὶ κατὰ συγκοπὴν ὕπνος. Ἐτυμολογεῖται δὲ παρὰ τὸ ὑπονοστεῖν τὰς φρένας ἢ ὑποχωρεῖν· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ αἱ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου αἰσθήσεις ὑποχωροῦσιν

Translation (En)

From hupnos "sleep". And the latter comes from the prefix hupo "under" and the word nous "mind", yielding *huponoos, and through syncope hupnos. It is etymologized after the fact that the sprit is going down (hyponostein) or giving way. Because in sleep the human senses give way.

Comment

The word is parsed as a compound "having his mind below" (*ὑπόνοος), that is "below the normal level". This etymology requires only a syncope. Choeroboscus quotes afterwards a different etymology by ὑπονοστέω, which is older, as an alternative etymology.

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum, upsilon, p. 543 (Ὕπνος, ὁ ὑπόνοος, ἀφαιρεῖ τὸν νοῦν, ὅθεν ἄτερπνον φασὶ τὸν ἄϋπνον); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 780 (Ὕπνος: Παρὰ τὸ ὑπονοστεῖν, ἤγουν ὑποχωρεῖν· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ αἱ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου αἰσθήσεις ὑποχωροῦσιν. Ἢ παρὰ τὴν ὑπὸ πρόθεσιν καὶ τὸ νοῦς νοὸς, ὑπόνοος· καὶ συγκοπῇ, ὕπνος· ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὕπνῳ αἱ φρένες καὶ ὁ νοῦς ὑποχωρεῖ. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ λύειν τοὺς πόνους, λύπονός τις ὤν· καὶ συγκοπῇ καὶ ἀφαιρέσει τοῦ λ, ὕπνος)

Modern etymology

Old word inherited from PIE with cognates in many languages, from the root meaning "to sleep" (Lat. somnus "keep", Ved. svápna- "sleep", svápiti "he sleeps"). Within Greek, ὕπνος is the basis of its family (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word survives in Modern Greek to designate 'sleep' and also metaphorically in many phrases such as "στον ύπνο σου με έβλεπες?", for someone who calls us very early in the morning. Ύπνος also designates 'a not so clever/perceptive person '.

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