λύω + πόνος
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English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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Quotation
ὅθεν καὶ ὕπνος ἐτυμολογεῖται κατά τινας ὡς οἱονεὶ λύπονος οἷα λύων πόνους, ὧν ἀνεπαίσθητος ὁ ὑπνῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ θανών. διὸ καὶ ἀδελφοὶ ἀλλήλοις μυθεύονται ὕπνος καὶ θάνατος, καὶ λυσιμελεῖς ἄμφω ἐπονομάζονται
Translation (En)
This is why hupnos "sleep" is etymologized by some as *luponos, that is, solving (luōn) the pains (ponous), which the sleeping man does not feel, nor does the dead man. And this is why Hypnos and Thanatos are in mythology brothers, and why both are called lusimelēs "defeating the limbs"
Parallels
Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 233 (Εἰ δὲ δυσπονέος καμάτοιο παύει ὁ ὕπνος, εὐφυῶς ἄρα ἐτυμολογοῦσιν αὐτὸν τινὲς, παρὰ τὸ λύειν πόνους ἵνα ᾖ λύπονός τις καὶ ἀφαιρέσει καὶ συγκοπῇ, ὕπνος); 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).
The pun in an epigram attributed to Meleagre (Anth. Gr. 12, 127, l. 7) is probably an implicit etymology : λυσίπονος δ’ ἑτέροις ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ πόνον ὕπνος ἔτευξεν "sleep, for the others pain-relaxing, has wrought against me pain"
Comment
This etymology, which Eustathius repeats in another place, arose from the Homeric uses of the word. An epithet of ὕπνος is λυσιμελής "limb-relaxing", and Eustathius gives this etymology about the line εὖτε τὸν ὕπνος ἔμαρπτε λύων μελεδήματα θυμοῦ (Il. 23.60). The fantastic compound *λύπονος is created out of λύων μελεδήματα and λυσιμελής. It is a verbal governing compound, of the same type as *λύνυχος given as etymon for λύχνος (see λύχνος / λύω + νύχος). This etymology implies then two manipulations, a syncope in πόνος and the loss of the initial [l]. The etymology apparently goes back at least to the Hellenistic period (see Parallels)