ἀργός2
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ἀργός
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
argos
English translation (word)
shining, quick
Transliteration (Etymon)
argos
English translation (etymon)
idle, lazy
Century
9 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Epimerismi homerici Il. 1, 50d1
Ed.
A. Dyck, Epimerismi homerici, pars prior epimerismos continens qui ad Iliadis librum A pertinent, Berlin 1983
Quotation
ἀργούς: τρία σημαίνει ἡ λέξις, (1) τόν τε ἐν τῇ συνηθείᾳ ἀργὸν λεγόμενον καὶ (2) κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν {καὶ} τὸν ταχὺν καὶ (3) τὸν λευκόν
Translation (En)
argous: the word has three meanings: the idle one, as in usual speech, and, through antiphrasis, the quick one, and the white one
Parallels
Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 287 (Ἀργός. λευκὸς καὶ ὁ ῥάθυμος. κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν καὶ ὁ ταχύς. παρὰ τὸ ἀρκῶ ἀρκὸς καὶ ἀργὸς, ὁ ἐπαρκεῖν τοῖς ποσὶ δυνάμενος)
Modern etymology
Old adjective from PIE root *h2erg- "to shine", matching Ved. r̥jrá- "quick", Av. ǝrǝzra- "quick", related to ἀργυρός "silver", ἀργής "shining", ἄργιλος "clay", Lat. argentum "silver" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This definition which does not bear specifically on etymology considered that "quick" arose from "idle, lazy" through antiphrasis. This is equivalent to saying that ἀργός2 "idle" is the etymon of ἀργός1 "quick", although the lexicographer does not understand it that way because for him it is one and the same word. The Pseudo-Zonaras repeats the same explanation but adds an etymon which has nothing to do and is the usual etymon for "quick" (see ἀργός1 / ἀρκέω), coming from another source: the compiler does not seem to have notice that there was a contradiction between the two.