ἄζω
Word
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Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
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Ed.
Quotation
ἄχνη (Δ 426 alibi): ὄνομα ῥηματικὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἔχω ἔχη καὶ ἀέχη <καὶ ἄχνη>, τὸ λεπτομερές, οὗ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔχεσθαι. δύναται καὶ <εἶναι> παρὰ τὸ ἄζω, τὸ ξηραίνω· καὶ μάλιστα ἐπ’ ἐκείνου ‘ὡς δ’ ἄνεμος ἄχνας φορέει ἱερὰς κατ’ ἀλωάς (Ε 499)’· τὸ γὰρ ξηρὸν καὶ οὐχ <ὑγρὸν ἀλλὰ λ>επτόν ἐστιν. <ἄζω> ἄχνη, ὡς πήσσω πάχνη, λάζω λάχνη (ἡ γὰρ τρίχωσις εὔληπτος)
Translation (En)
akhnē "foam, chaff". Deverbal noun, from ekhō "to hold", *ekhē and *aekhē <and akhnē>, the thin part which one cannot hold. But it can also come from azō "to dry up"; and particularly for this line ‘as the wind carries the chaff along the sacred threshing-floors’ (Il. 5.499). As a matter of fact, it is dry and not moist, but tiny: <azō> akhnē, as pēssō "to plant" pakhnē "frost", lazō "to take" lakhnē "hair, down" (because the hair is easy to grasp)
Parallels
There is no parallel
Comment
This etymology is meant to account for the meaning "chaff", not "foam", which is explicit through the Homeric quotation. It derives the word from the verb "to dry", relying on the observation that what is dry is lighter than what is still moist: the dry chaff is carried away by the wind