ἀ- + ποινή

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Sat, 07/03/2021 - 11:52

Word-form

ἄποινα

Transliteration (Word)

apoina

English translation (word)

ransom, blood price

Transliteration (Etymon)

a- + poinē

English translation (etymon)

not + penalty

Author

Epimerismi homerici

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Epimerismi homerici in Iliadem 1, 13d2

Ed.

A. Dyck, Epimerismi homerici, pars prior epimerismos continens qui ad Iliadis librum A pertinent, Berlin 1983

Quotation

ἄποινα: οἱ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ φόνος ἄφονος; πλεονασμῷ ἄφοινος καὶ ἄποινος. οἱ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ποινή, ἡ τιμωρία, γίνεται ἄποινος. ἢ ἐκ τοῦ φονή, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν τόπον τῶν ἀναιρουμένων, ‘ἄνδρας ἀσπαίροντας ἐν ἀργαλέῃσι φονῇσι’ (Κ 521)

Translation (En)

Apoina "ransom": some say it comes from phonos "murder", through adjunction of [i], *aphoinos, and apoinos "murder-free"; others say that  from poinē "punishment" comes *apoinos "without punishment"; or from phonē "carnage", which refers to the place where the dead are lying, ‘and his men in the shambles of slaughter gasping their lives out’ (transl. Lattimore)

Comment

Compositional etymology which correctly relates ἄποινα with ποινή. The former is understood as a privative of the latter, "without punishment". It implies no formal manipulation and is formally straightforward. It is also semantically straightforward if ἄποινα means "blood price" and not "ransom" as it does in Homer. This etymology was less repeated than the competing one by φόνος (see ἄποινα / ἀ- + φόνος)

Parallels

Etym. Gudianum, alpha, p. 170 (Ἄποινα <Β 230>· οἱ μέν, ἐκ τοῦ φόνος ἄφονος καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι ἄφοινος <ἄποινος καὶ ἄποινα>, ἄφοινά τινα ὄντα τὰ ὑπεξαιροῦντα τοῦ φονικοῦ· οἱ δέ, ἐκ τοῦ ποινή, ἡ τιμωρία, γίνεται ἄποινος, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ φονή, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν τόπον τῶν ἀναιρουμένων); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 148 (φόνος καὶ κατὰ στέρησιν ἄφονος, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι ἄφοινος καὶ τὸ οὐδέτερον τὸ ἄφοινον, καὶ <τροπῇ τοῦ φ εἰς π> ἄποινον, τουτέστι τὰ ὑπεξαιρούμενα τοῦ φονικοῦ ἐγκλήματος. ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ποινή γίνεται ἄποινος); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 252 (Ἄποινα. τὰ δῶρα καὶ τὰ λύτρα τὰ ὑπὲρ φόνου διδόμενα. ἔστιν οὖν φόνος, καὶ κατὰ στέρησιν ἄφονος, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι ἄφοινος, καὶ τὸ οὐδέτερον ἄφοινον καὶ ἄποινον, τουτέστι τὰ ὑπεξαιρούμενα τοῦ φονικοῦ ἐγκλήματος. [ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ποινὴ, ἡ τιμωρία, γίνεται ἄποινος καὶ ἄποινον]); Geneva scholion Il. 1.13quat. (ἄποινα γίνεται ἐκ τοῦ ποινή, τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ φόνος)

Bibliography

On the meaning and etymology of ἄποινα, see C. Le Feuvre, “Νήποινος, νηποινεί, ἀνάποινος, ἄποινα, and ποινή”, Glotta 97, 2021, pp. 107–157. The meaning "ransom" in Homer is secondary, the original meaning is "blood money", and the word is a compound of ποινή

Modern etymology

Compound of ποινή, from an older *ἀπόποινος with haplology at the morphological boundary, meaning "taking away the reprisals", not from *sm̥-kwoino-, pace West 2001 and Beekes, EDG (see Bibliography above)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre