αὖος
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
αὐχήν
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
aukhēn
English translation (word)
neck, nape
Transliteration (Etymon)
auos
English translation (etymon)
dry
Century
9 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 119
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Georgii Choerobosci epimerismi in Psalmos, vol. 3, Oxford, 1842.
Quotation
μεγαλαυχεῖν, παρὰ τὸ μεγαλαυχῶ· τοῦτο παρὰ τὸ αὖον, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ ξηρὸν, αὐὴν καὶ αὐχήν
Translation (En)
Megalaukheîn "to boast", from megalaukhô; the latter comes from auos, which means "dry", *auēn and aukhēn "neck"
Modern etymology
Aeolic has ἄμφην (Theocritus). Probably from *h22mg̑h-ú- "narrowness", found in OCS ǫzъkъ "narrow". Cognate with Arm. awjik‘ "neck". Isolated within Greek (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has αυχένας as the name of the back part of the neck
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This is a variant of the more commun etymology by αὐχμός (see αὐχήν / αὐχμός). Both start from the adjective αὖος "dry" but imply a different derivation, αὖος → αὐχμός → *αὐχμήν → αὐχήν (deletion of a consonant) or αὖος → *αὐήν → αὐχήν (insertion of a consonant). The etymology refers to the back part of the neck.