τρέχω

Validation

No

Word-form

τράχηλος

Transliteration (Word)

trakhēlos

English translation (word)

neck

Transliteration (Etymon)

trekhō

English translation (etymon)

to run

Author

Soranus of Ephesus?

Century

1-2 AD

Source

Meletius

Ref.

De natura hominis p. 91

Ed.

J.A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, vol. 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1835 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1963)

Quotation

καὶ τράχηλος μὲν λέγεται, ἀπὸ τῆς τραχύτητος τῶν ἐκεῖσε ὀστῶν· ὀστῶδες γὰρ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δι’ αὐτοῦ ῥεῖν, ἤτοι τρέχειν τὴν τροφήν· οἷον τρόχαλος

Translation (En)

And it is called trakhēlos "neck" from the fact that the bones in it are rough, because this part is bonelike. Or from the fact that food flows through it, that is, runs (trekhein), as it were a *trokhalos

Comment

This etymology comes from Orion, source of both Meletius and the Byzantine Etymologica, although it is not preserved in our manuscript of Orion. It may ultimately come from Soranus (fr. 237 Scheele).

Parallels

Leo Medicus, De natura hominum synopsis 58 (τράχηλος ἐκ τοῦ τρέχειν τὴν τροφὴν οἷον τρόχιλος); Etym. Gudianum, tau, p. 533 (Τράχηλος, παρὰ τὴν τῶν ὀστρέων τραχύτητα, ὀστῶδες γὰρ τὸ μέρος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δι’ αὐτοῦ τρέχειν τὴν τροφὴν, τρόχαλος καὶ τράχηλος. ἢ τράχηλος παρὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐξ ὀστέων τραχηλέων, καὶ οὐ σκληρῶν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 764 (Τράχηλος: Παρὰ τὴν τραχύτητα· ὀστῶδες γὰρ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δι’ αὐτοῦ τρέχειν τὴν τροφὴν, οἷον τρόχαλος. Ἢ ὅτι τῆς ῥάχεως ὅλος ἐστὶ τράχηλος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ τραχὺς καὶ τὸ ἧλος, ὁ τραχεῖς ἥλους ἔχων. Ὅτε δέ φησιν Ὅμηρος, ‘ἁπαλοῖο δι’ αὐχένος’, κατ’ ἀντίφρασιν λέγει. Οὕτως Ὦρος)

Modern etymology

Τράχηλος belongs with τρέχω "to run", older "to rotate", τροχός "wheel", and is so named because it is the axis allowing the rotation of the head (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

The word still exists in Modern Greek designating 1. the back bart of the neck, 2. the lower part of the womb.

Entry By

Le Feuvre