νη- + οἶδα
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
οὐ γάρ τίς με βίῃ γε ἑκὼν ἀέκοντα δίηται
οὐδέ τι ἰδρείῃ, ἐπεὶ οὐδ’ ἐμὲ νήϊδά γ’ οὕτως
ἔλπομαι ἐν Σαλαμῖνι γενέσθαι τε τραφέμεν τε
Translation (En)
For no one will force me willingly against my will, by force or by wit, because I claim not to have been born and raised in Salamis as an ignorant
Parallels
Explicit: Apollonius Soph., Lexicon homericum p. 116 (νῆϊς τῆς προτέρας περισπωμένης σημαίνει τὸν ἄπειρον, κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ ἴσαι, ὅ ἐστι γνῶναι); Herodian, Peri kliseōs onomatōn, Lentz III/2, p. 701 (τὸ δὲ νῆϊς σύνθετον ἀπὸ τοῦ νη τοῦ στερητικοῦ ἐπιρρήματος καὶ τοῦ εἴδω σημαίνοντος τὸ ἐπίσταμαι οἷον ὁ ἐστερημένος τοῦ ἐπίστασθαι); idem, Peri tōn eis -mi, Lentz III/2, p. 839 (νῆϊς (ὁ ἄπειρος, ὁ τοῦ εἰδέναι ἐστερημένος)), in a list of compounds and derivatives of οἶδα); Orion, Etymologicum, nu, p. 110 (Νῆϊς. εἴδω ἐστὶ ῥῆμα, οὗ μέλλων εἴσω καὶ εἴσομαι· ἀποβολῇ τοῦ ω, καὶ τοῦ ε, ἴς, καὶ μετὰ τῆς νη στερήσεως, νῆϊς); Hesychius, Lexicon, nu 460 (νῆϊς· ἄπειρος r, κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ ἴσαι, ὅ ἐστι γνῶναι); Photius, Lexicon, nu 181 (νῆϊς· οὐκ εἰδώς, ἄπειρος); Suda, nu 306 (idem); Choeroboscus, Prolegomena et scholia in Theodosii Alexandrini canones isagogicos de flexione nominum, p. 200 (σύνθετον ἀπὸ τοῦ νή τοῦ στερητικοῦ ἐπιρρήματος καὶ τοῦ εἴδω τοῦ σημαίνοντος τὸ ἐπίσταμαι, οἷον ὁ ἐστερημένος τοῦ ἐπίστασθαι); Etym. Genuinum, alpha 100 (τὸ δὲ εἴδω [σύνθετον] εἰ[ς] ὄνομα ἀποβάλλει τὸ ε· νῆις, ὁ ἄπειρος, καὶ πολύιδος); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 21 (idem); Sophronius, Excerpta e Joannis Characis commentariis in Theodosii Alexandrini canones, p. 388 (Τὸ δὲ νῆις σημαῖνον τὸν ἄπειρον ἀπὸ ῥήματος κατὰ στέρησιν τοῦ εἰδέναι σύνθετον); Epimerismi homerici Il. 1.1b1a (ἐκ τοῦ εἴδω ὁ μέλλων εἴσω, ἐξ οὗ τὸ ἴς, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἔμπειρον, καὶ νῆϊς, ὁ ἄπειρος); Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, iota 39 (ἐκ τοῦ εἴδω εἴσω ἴς καὶ μετ⸥ὰ τοῦ νη στερητικοῦ ν⸤ῆϊ⸥ς, ⸤ὁ ἀμαθὴς καὶ ἄπειρος); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 26-27 Van der Valk (τὸ δὲ Ἄϊς γίνεται παρὰ τὸ α στερητικὸν καὶ τὸ εἴδω εἴσω, τὸ βλέπω, καθάπερ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ νη στερητικοῦ καὶ τοῦ εἴδω εἴσω, τὸ γινώσκω, νῆϊς ὁ ἄπειρος καὶ ἀνεπιστήμων); ibid., 2, 443 (Τὸ δὲ νῆϊς νήϊδος ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ ἀνεπιστήμων, καὶ γίνεται παρὰ τὸ νη στερητικὸν μόριον καὶ τὸ εἴδω εἴσω, τὸ γινώσκω); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 290 Stallbaum (Τὸ δὲ νῆις ἀέθλων, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄπειρος. ἀνεπιστήμων. ἄϊδρις δὲ μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον. ὡς γὰρ ὁ ἄϊδρις, οὕτω καὶ ὁ νῆις παρὰ τὴν στέρησιν τοῦ εἰδέναι ἐτυμολογοῦνται ὡς καὶ ἡ Ἰλιὰς ἐδήλωσε); Eustathius, Commentarium in Dionysii Periegetae orbis descriptionem 185 (Ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν νήϊδες ἀνεπιστήμονες παρὰ τὸ νη στερητικὸν καὶ τὸ εἰδέναι); ibid., p. 466 (ἐκ τοῦ εἴδω, τὸ γινώσκω· ὁ μέλλων, εἴσω, ἴς· καὶ νῆϊς, ὁ ἀμαθὴς καὶ ἄπειρος); J. Pediasimus, Scholia in Hesiodi scutum, p. 626 (ὥσπερ ὁ νῆϊς, ὁ γινόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ νή στερητικοῦ μορίου καὶ τοῦ εἴδω εἴσω τὸ γινώσκω, ἰωταγραφεῖται, οὕτω καὶ τοῦτο)
Implicit: Ap. Rh., Arg. 3.32-33 (Ἥρη, νήιδα μέν με πατὴρ τέκε τοῖο βολάων, || οὐδέ τινα χρειὼ θελκτήριον οἶδα πόθοιο); Apollinaris, Metaphrasis psalmorum 2.91.8 (οὔ τίς τοι τάδε νῆις ἐνὶ φρεσὶν εἴσεται ἀνὴρ)
Bibliography
On the etymology of νῆϊς, cf. C. Le Feuvre, « Qui n’entend point n’y entend rien : νῆϊς, -ιδος “ignorant” », in Ὀνομάτων ἵστωρ. Mélanges offerts à Charles de Lamberterie, éd. C. Le Feuvre, D. Petit. Louvain - Paris, Peeters, 2020, pp. 323–340: νῆΐς originally means "who has not heard of", it is a compound of ἀϝίω and goes back to *n̥-h2u̯is-. However, the relationship with ἀΐω was lost early on, and the word was remotivated in synchrony as belonging with οἶδα, which can be seen already in the Iliad.
Comment
The figura etymologic between ἰδρείῃ "wit" and νῆϊδα "ignorant" is a witness of the antiquity of this etymology, which is explicit only in later sources because it was fairly obvious for the Greeks. The word is parsed as a compound with the privative prefix νη-. The etymology was almost unanimously accepted in Antiquity, only Choeroboscus transmits a different etymology (which he rejects).