ῥάχις + ἧλος

Validation

No

Word-form

τράχηλος

Transliteration (Word)

trakhēlos

English translation (word)

neck

Transliteration (Etymon)

rhakhis + hēlos

English translation (etymon)

backbone + nail-head

Author

Anastasius Sin.

Century

7/8 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Viae dux 2, 8

Ed.

K.-H. Uthemann, Anastasius Sinaïtae viae dux [Corpus Christianorum. Series Graeca 8. Turnhout: Brepols, 1981]

Quotation

τράχηλος, τῆς ῥάχης ἧλος

Translation (En)

Thakhēlos "neck": from the fact that it is the nail-head (hēlos) of the backbone (rhakhēs).

Comment

Descriptive etymology parsing the word as a compound. The nail-head of the backbone would rather be expected as a metaphorical denomination of the head than the neck, but this may be explained by metonymy. A formal manipulation is required, the adjunction of the initial [t]. The etymology was designed at a time when η and ι were both pronounced [I]. The etymology is corrupt in the Etym. Magnum which has ὅλος instead of ἧλος.

Parallels

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); Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 83 (τράχηλος ἀπὸ τοῦ εἶναι ἧλος τῆς ῥάχεως, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ τ. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ τραγῶ τὸ ἐσθίω καὶ τοῦ αὐλός τράγαυλος καὶ ἐκβολῇ τοῦ υ καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ γ εἰς χ καὶ τοῦ α εἰς η τράχηλος.)

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