ἐγχέω

Validation

No

Word-form

ἔγχος

Transliteration (Word)

enkhos

English translation (word)

spear

Transliteration (Etymon)

enkheō

English translation (etymon)

to pour in

Author

Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam

Source

Idem

Ref.

Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 164

Ed.

A. Ludwich, Die Homerische Batrachomachia des Karers Pigres: nebst Scholien und Paraphrase, Leipzig, 1896

Quotation

ἔγχος τὸ κοντάριον, ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν προθέσεως καὶ τοῦ χέω, τὸ ἐγχέον, δηλονότι τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου αἷμα. Mosch

Translation (En)

Enkhos "spear": the javelin, from the prefix en "in" and kheō "to pour", the "pouring one", obviously <pouring> the human blood

Comment

This scholion by Moschopoulos is not attested before but is probably older. It is a purely paronymic etymology which does not require any formal manipulation: from the semantic point of view, one would rather expect that the spear "pours out" (ἐκχέω) the blood rather than "in" (ἐγχέω), but this point is not commented upon. The etymology is of the functional type, the function of the spear is to shed blood.

Parallels

There is no parallel.

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre