ζέω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Reference
Edition
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Ed.
Quotation
θάτερον τῶν ἐναντίων τίθεται Ἵ<ππων> καὶ Ἡράκλειτος, ὁ μὲν τὸ θερμόν· πῦρ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἶναι· ὁ δὲ τὸ ψυχρόν, ὕδωρ τιθέμενος τὴν ἀρχήν. ἑκάτερος οὖν τούτων, φησί, καὶ ἐτυμολογεῖν ἐπιχειρεῖ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄνομα πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν δόξαν, ὁ μὲν λέγων διὰ τοῦτο ζῆν λέγεσθαι τὰ ἔμψυχα παρὰ τὸ ζεῖν, τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ θερμοῦ, ὁ δὲ ψυχὴν κεκλῆσθαι ἐκ τοῦ ψυχροῦ, ὅθεν ἔχει τὸ εἶναι, παρὰ τὸ αἰτίαν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τῆς διὰ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς ψύξεως
Translation (En)
Hippon and Heraclitus takes one of the two opposites, the former, the warmth, because he thinks fire is the principle of everything, the latter, the cold, assuming water is the principle. And so each of them, he says, seeks to etymologize the name of the soul according to his own doctrine, the one (Hippon) saying that animate beings are said to live (zên) from the verb zeîn "to boil", and this a feature of warmth, and the other (Heraclitus) that the soul, psukhē, is thus called because of the cold (psukhros), from which it gets its existence, from the fact that it is for us the cause of the cooling thanks to breathing
Parallels
Arist., De anima, 405b 25-30 (οἱ δὲ θάτερον τῶν ἐναντίων, οἷον θερμὸν ἢ ψυχρὸν ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἄλλο, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁμοίως ἕν τι τούτων τιθέασιν. Διὸ καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀκολουθοῦσιν, οἱ μὲν τὸ θερμὸν λέγοντες, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ ζῆν ὠνόμασται, οἱ δὲ τὸ ψυχρόν, <διὰ τὸ> διὰ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν καὶ τὴν κατάψυξιν καλεῖσθαι ψυχήν); Themistius, In Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis, vol. 5, 3, p. 14 (οἱ μὲν τὸ θερμὸν λέγοντες ὅτι καὶ τὸ ζῆν παρὰ τὸ ζεῖν ὠνομάσθη, οἱ δὲ τὸ ψυχρὸν ὅτι καὶ τοὔνομα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐντεῦθεν); Iamblichus, De anima 8 (Τινὲς δὲ τῶν φυσικῶν σύνοδον τῶν ἐναντίων συνυφαίνουσιν, οἷον θερμοῦ καὶ <ψυχροῦ>, ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναζεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναψύχεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ ὠνομάσθαι ἀποφαίνονται, καὶ ἅμα ἐπ’ ἀμφοτέρων <...> ἢ τὸν ἀναπνεόμενον ἀέρα ψυχὴν νομίζουσιν); Orion, Etymologicum, epsilon, p. 65 (Ζῶον. ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῆν καὶ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ζήσεως τοῦ θερμοῦ); idem, Etymologicum (excerpta e cod. Darmstadino 2773), epsilon, p. 613 (ζῶον, ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ζέσεως τοῦ θερμοῦ); Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, zeta 8 (ζῶ: τὸ ζῆν παρὰ τὸ ζέειν εἴρηται· ζέουσι γὰρ οἱ ζῶντες); Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos, p. 128 (ἐπειδὴ τὸ ζῶ παρὰ τὸ ζέω γίνεται); Etym. Gudianum, zeta, p. 231 (Ζέω καὶ ζῆν, τὸ ῥῆμα κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν θερμασίαν τῶν ὑδάτων ἤχου· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζα καὶ τοῦ ἄω, ζάω καὶ ζέω); ibid., p. 234 (Ζῶον, τὸ γενικὸν ὄνομα, παρὰ τὸ ζῶ, τὸ τοῦ ζῆν δεκτικὸν, τὸ ζῶον ἔχον ἢ ζέσιν ἔχον καὶ θερμότητα, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν μὴ ζώων. ὅθεν καὶ ζεστὸν ἄνθρωπον φαμὲν τὸν εὐκίνητον καὶ θερμόν); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 646 Van der Valk (τὸ γὰρ ζωή ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέω ζῶ γεγονός, διὰ τὴν τῶν ζώντων θερμότητα); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 410 (Ζέω καὶ ζεῖν: Εἴρηται κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν θερμασίαν τῶν ὑδάτων ἤχου· ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ΖΑ καὶ τοῦ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, ζάω καὶ ζέω. | Ζῶ καὶ ζῆν: Τὸ τῆς ζωῆς σημαντικὸν ῥῆμα, ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέω κατὰ μεταφοράν· ἀναπνέομεν γὰρ, ἕως πάρεστιν ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ἡ ζέσις τοῦ αἵματος. Ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄω, τὸ πνέω, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ζῆτα ἢ τοῦ ΖΑ, γίνεται ζάω· εἶτα κατὰ κρᾶσιν, ζῶ); ibid., p. 413 (ζῶον: […] Τὸ γενικὸν ὄνομα, παρὰ τὸ ζῶ, τὸ τοῦ ζῆν δεκτικόν. Ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς ζωῆς, τὸ ζωὴν ἔχον, ἢ ζέσιν ἔχον καὶ θερμότητα, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν μὴ ζωῶν· ὅθεν καὶ ζεστὸν ἄνθρωπον φαμὲν, τὸν εὐκίνητον καὶ θερμόν); ibid., p. 413-414 (ἐπειδὴ τὸ ζῆν ἐπὶ τοῦ θερμοῦ λαμβάνεται, παρὰ τὸ ζέω, διὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ θερμασίαν); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, zeta, p. 958 (Ζέω καὶ ζῇν. εἴρηται κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ κατὰ τὰ θερμὰ τῶν ὑδάτων ἤχου. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζα καὶ τοῦ ἄω τὸ πνέω, ζάω καὶ ζέω); Gennadius Scholarius, Translatio commentarii Thomae Aquinae De anima Aristotelis 1.5 (Οἱ γὰρ λέγοντες τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκ τῆς φύσεως τοῦ θερμοῦ παρονομάζουσιν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῆν, ὃ παρωνόμασται πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέειν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ θερμὸν εἶναι. Οἱ δὲ λέγοντες τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκ τῆς φύσεως τοῦ ψυχροῦ παρωνόμαζον αὐτὴν ἀπὸ ψυχροῦ ψυχὴν διὰ τὴν κατάψυξιν, ἥτις σῴζει τὸ ζῷον ἐκ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς)
Comment
This formally simple etymology is widespread in our sources. It does not rely on a heavy formal manipulation, only the change of [ei] into [ē]. Life is defined as the boiling, that is, the heating created by the element fire. However, from the semantic point of view, it is acrobatic to go from "to boil" to "to live". The same etymology is provided for words belonging with ζῆν like ζωή or ζῶον.