ὁράω

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No

Last modification

Wed, 03/06/2024 - 23:10

Word-form

ὅρασις

Transliteration (Word)

horasis

English translation (word)

sight, seeing

Transliteration (Etymon)

horaō

English translation (etymon)

to see

Author

Eudemus of Rhodes

Century

4 BC

Reference

Fr. 61

Edition

F. Wehrli, Eudemos von Rhodos [Die Schule des Aristoteles vol. 8, 2nd edn.. Basel: Schwabe, 1969

Source

Simplicius

Ref.

In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaría, vol. 9, p. 439

Ed.

H. Diels, Simplicii in Aristotelis physicorum libros octo commentaria, 2 vols.[Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 9 & 10. Berlin: Reimer, 9:1882; 10:1895

Quotation

ὑπεναντιοῦσθαι δέ φησιν Εὔδημος τοῖς λέγουσιν ἐν τῷ πάσχοντι καὶ κινουμένῳ εἶναι τὴν κίνησιν τὸ περὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις, λέγομεν γὰρ ὁρᾷ ὁρᾶται ὅρασις, ἀκούει ἀκούεται ἄκουσις. δοκεῖ οὖν ἡ ὅρασις ἐν τῷ ὁρῶντι εἶναι καὶ ἡ ἄκουσις ἐν τῷ ἀκούοντι· ὁμοίως καὶ αἱ γεύσεις καὶ αἱ λοιπαί.

Translation (En)

They say Eudemus opposed those who say that for the senses, motion is produced in the passive and moved being. Because we say horāi "he sees", horātai "he is seen", horāsis "seeing", akouei "he hears", akouetai "he is heard", akousis "hearing". So that the seeing is in the seeing one and the hearing in the hearing one. Similarly for taste and so on.

Comment

This is the correct explanation, ὅρασις is derived from ὁράω as a regular action noun. The interesting thing is the use Eudemus makes of morphological derivation for a philosophical use: since the action nouns ὅρασις, ἄκουσις are based on the active verbs ὁράω, ἀκούω, not on the passive ones ὅρἀομαι, ἀκούομαι, it implies that they have an active meaning and that the subject of the verb is the source of the perceiving sense (sight or hearing). In order to do that, Eudemus selects the 3sg ὁρᾷ, which is indeed close enough to ὅρᾱσις to be understood as its derivational base (the use of an inflected form as a derivational base was commonplace in Greek etymology).

Modern etymology

Action noun derived from ὁράω "to see"

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG has όραση meaning 1. (literary) 'sight', as the result of seeing, 2. (metaph.) observation, investigation.