δέω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
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" (dedemetha). Because we are inactive. And Homer calls the night "tamer" (dmēteira): "if Night who tames men and gods had not saved him"
Parallels
Etym, Gudianum, delta, p. 344 (Δέμνια· ἐγκοίτια στρώματα. ἀπὸ τοῦ δέμας εἰς αὐτὰ μένειν δέμνιον· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δέμω δέμνιον ὡς παίζω παίγνιον, τὸ εἰς σώματος ἀνάπαυσιν ᾠκοδομημένον· ἢ συνδεθέν· ἢ παρὰ τὸ δεδεσμῆσθαι ἡμᾶς κοιμωμένους μηδὲν πράττοντας); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 255 (Δέμνια: Ἐγκοίτια στρώματα· ἀπὸ τοῦ τὸ δέμας ἐπ’ αὐτὰ μένειν. Ἢ ὡς παίζω παίγνιον, ἀράσσω ἀράχνιον, οὕτως δέμω δέμνιον, τὸ εἰς σώματος ἀνάπαυσιν οἰκοδομηθὲν, ἢ συνδεθέν); Etym. Symeonis, delta 123 (idem)
Comment
The etymological link with deō "to bind" is probably correct. However, the formulation in Orion is not clear: the οἷον δεδέμεθα seems to have been inserted in the etymological explanation by δαμάζω / δάμνημι and is not presented as an etymology. The formulation is different in the Byzantine Etymologica (see Parallels) and implies that what is "bound" is the mattress, not the sleeping man