ἀ- + φονή
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Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
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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’
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)
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. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 132 (Ἄποινα: Οἱ μὲν, ἐκ τοῦ φόνος, ἄφονος· πλεονασμῷ, ἄφοινος, καὶ ἄποινος. Οἱ δὲ, ἐκ τοῦ ποινὴ, ἡ τιμωρία· ἢ ἐκ τοῦ φονὴ, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν τόπον τῶν ἀναιρουμένων, ‘Ἐν ἀργαλέῃσι φονῇσι’. Φόνος φονή· πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι, φοινή· καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ δασέος εἰς ψιλὸν, ποινὴ, ἄποινος. Ἄποινα δὲ, τὰ ὑπὲρ φόνου διδόμενα λύτρα, τὰ ὑπεξαιρούμενα τοῦ φοινικοῦ ἐγκλήματος)
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
Comment
The word is parsed as a privative compound of φονή "carnage", understood as "place where the dead are lying". It seems clear from our sources that φονή is in fact the etymon of ποινή, therefore is indirectly the etymon of ἄποινα in so far as the latter is a compound of ποινή. Φονή and ποινή are both oxytone feminine nouns, so that φονή was deemed a more suitable etymon for ποινή than φόνος (see ἀ- + φόνος)