ζέω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
ὅθεν τοῦτον μὲν ζωὴν ὀνομάζουσι, ὡς παρακεκινημένον καὶ οἷον ζέουσαν οὐσίαν
Translation (En)
This is why they call it zōē "life", as a moving and so to speak boiling (zeousan) substance
Parallels
Damascius, De principiis 1, p. 195 (τὸ δὲ ζῆν ἑκάστου, καὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἑκάστης ἡ ζωὴ τὸ ζέον αὐτῆς ἐστι); ibid., 1, p. 211 (καὶ ἡ ζωὴ τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζεῖν τε καὶ ἀναζεῖν εἰς διάκρισιν); ibid., 1, p. 210 (ὅτι καὶ ἡ ζωὴ πάντα οὖσα ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὁμῶς ἰδιότητος ὀνομάζεται τῆς ζεούσης); ibid., 1, p. 294 (ἐγένετο τοίνυν ῥοή τις καὶ ζέσις, ἣν καλοῦμεν ζωήν) ; Damascius, In Parmenidem p. 32 (Ἔτι δὲ εἰ ἡ ζωὴ οὐσίας ἐστιν οἷον ζέσις […]); Theognostus, Canones sive De orthographia 497 (Τὸ ζωὴ διὰ τοῦ ω μεγάλου· ὡς γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥέω ῥοὴ, καὶ χέω χοὴ, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέω ζοὴ, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ο εἰς ω ζωή); Etym. Genuinum, zeta 54 (M.P. Funaioli, Museum Criticum XVIII, 1983) (idem); Etym. Gudianum, zeta, p. 233 (Ζωὴ, ὥσπερ παρὰ τὸ ῥέω ῥοὴ, καὶ χέω χοὴ, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέω ζωὴ τροπῇ τοῦ ο εἰς ω); 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.413 (Ζωή: Ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῶ γίνεται ζωὴ κατὰ πρόσληψιν συλλαβῆς. Ἢ ὥσπερ παρὰ τὸ ῥέω γίνεται ῥοὴ, καὶ χέω χοὴ, οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζέω, ζοή· καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ο εἰς ω ζωή); Bessarion, In calumniatorem Platonis 3.14.1. (ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ ζεῖν ἡ ζωή).
The etymology is implicit in Simplicius, In Aristotelis libros de anima comentaría, vol. 11, p. 30 : ἀλλὰ κατ’ αὐτὴν τὴν ζωτικὴν ἰδιότητα ἔγερσιν καὶ ζέσιν τινὰ πάσης δηλούσης ζωῆς; and maybe in Athanasius, Quaestiones ad Antiochum Ducem, MPG 28, p. 681 (οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ἀλόγων φύσεως καὶ τῆς ζέσεως τοῦ αἵματος γίνεσθαι νόμιζε, καὶ ταύτην εἶναι τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς αὐτῶν ζωῆς καὶ κινήσεως)
Comment
The etymology is probably older than Damascius (see ζῷον / ζάω). Life is of course related to ζῆν "to live", and Greek scholars etymologized ζῆν through ζέω (see ζάω / ζέω), so that it is not surprising to find the same etymology for ζωή. However, the remarkable point is that none of our sources derives ζωή from ζῆν, they all derive it directly from ζέω: that implies that ζῆν (ζάω) and ζωή were conceived as two separate derivatives of ζέω. The formal derivation is explicit in Theognostus. From the semantic point of view, life is etymologized as the "heating up, boiling".