δάμνημι
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
δέμνια
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
demnion
English translation (word)
bedstead, mattress
Transliteration (Etymon)
damnēmi
English translation (etymon)
to tame
Century
5 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etymologicum, delta, p. 44
Ed.
F.W. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, 1820
Quotation
Δέμνια. ἐν οἷς δεδμήμεθα, καὶ κοιμώμεθα· οἷον δεδέμεθα· διὰ τὸ μηδὲν πράττειν, καὶ τὴν νύκτα δμήτειραν φησὶν Ὅμηρος· εἰ μὴ Νὺξ δμήτειρα θεῶν ἐσάωσε καὶ ἀνδρῶν
Translation (En)
Demnia "bedstead": in which we are tamed (dedmēmetha), and lie down, as if we were bound. Because we are inactive. And Homer calls the night "tamer" (dmēteira): "if Night who tames men and gods had not saved him"
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Probably from δέω "to bind", with the same -mn- suffix as in κρήδεμνον "headband"
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This etymology relies on a loose paronymy and is justified by means of a Homeric quotation: the epithet of Night ("taming") is applied by metaphor to the mattress on which men sleep, "tamed by sleep" (δεδμημένοι ὕπνῳ, Il. 10, 2), although this Homeric quotation remains implicit. The association of "to tame" with sleep is also found in the Homeric epithet of sleep πανδαμάτωρ "who tames everyone"