ἀλέω + φονεύω
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Etym. Genuinum, alpha 555 (Ἄλφιτα (Λ 640)· ‘ἐπὶ δ’ ἄλφιτα λευκὰ πάλυνεν’. παρὰ τὸ ἀλφαίνειν, ἡ πρῶτον εὑρεθεῖσα τροφή. ἢ ἀλήφατά τινα ὄντα, τὰ ἀληλεσμένα, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν ὅλων, ἀλήφατα ἄλφιτα); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 344 *idem) Eustathius, Comm. Il. 3, 273 Van der Valk (Γίνεται δὲ ἄλφιτον, ὡς καὶ ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ φαίνεται, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀλῶ, τὸ ἀλήθω, καὶ τὸ φῶ, τὸ φονεύω, τὸ οἱονεὶ πεφασμένον ἐν τῷ ἀλήθεσθαι. διὸ καὶ μυλήφατον λέγεται. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἄλφω, τὸ εὑρίσκω, καὶ τὸ ἴτης, ὁ πτωχός, τὸ τοῖς ἴταις εὑρισκόμενον. ἄλφιτον γάρ, φασί, κυρίως κρίθινον πίτυρον. τινὲς δὲ ἁπλούστερον ἄλφιτόν φασι τὸ ἐκ πεφρυγμένων κριθῶν, παρὰ τὸ ἀλφῶ τὸ πρῶτον ἐφευρεθέν); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 98 Stallbaum (δοκεῖ δὲ τὸ ἄλφιτον, εὐτελέστερον ἀλεύρου εἶναι. εἰ δὲ οἱ μεθ’ Ὅμηρον ἐπὶ κριθίνων ἀλεύρων ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ πιτύρων τὸ ἄλφιτον τιθέασι παρὰ τὸ ἄλφεσθαι ἴταις ὅ ἐστιν εὑρίσκεσθαι πτωχοῖς δι’ εὐτέλειαν, ἀλλ’ ὁ ποιητὴς οὐχ’ οὕτως ἐκδέχεται. ἀλλὰ τὸ ἁπλῶς ἄλευρον, ἄλφιτον λέγει διὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀλεῖσθαι, φάειν, ἤγουν φαίνειν καὶ λευκαίνεσθαι, ἢ φονεύεσθαι. ὅθεν καὶ μυλήφατον ἄλφιτον, ὅπερ ὅ τι οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης πίτυρον ἢ πιτυρῶδες ἐστὶ, δηλοῦσι καὶ τὰ τῶν τρυφώντων ψαιστὰ, ἄλφιτα ὄντα κατὰ Παυσανίαν, οἴνῳ καὶ ἐλαίῳ μεμαγμένα ἢ δεδευμένα); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 73 (Ἄλφιτον: Ἡ ἀξιολογωτάτη τροφή· κυρίως τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν πεφρυγμένων κριθῶν ἀλεσθεισῶν θραύσματα, καταχρηστικῶς δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν πυρῶν, ἢ φακῶν· ‘Ἐπὶ δ’ ἄλφιτα λευκὰ πάλυνεν’. Παρὰ τὸ ἀλφαίνειν, ἡ πρῶτον εὑρεθεῖσα τροφή. Ἢ ἀλήφατά τινα ὄντα, τὰ ἀληλεσμένα, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν ὅλων)
Bibliography
On the origin of ἄλφι, see C. Watkins, "Let us now praise famous grains", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 122, 1978, 9-17. The suffix of an old name of barley, -it-, was transferred to its epithet "white", and the new adjective was then substantivized and replaced the old noun. "Barley" was originally paired with "honey" (*melit- > μέλι, μέλιτος) and had the same suffix, which is preserved in Hittite (seppit-) and indirectly in Greek with lexical replacement
Comment
The word is parsed as a compound on the model of μυλήφατος, with which it shared the sequence [ph-to]. The Homeric line providing this etymology is Od. 2.355 (εἴκοσι δ’ ἔστω μέτρα μυληφάτου ἀλφίτου ἀκτῆς). The starting point pf Plutarch is the thematic form ἄλφιτον, and the etymology of the epithet μυλήφατος "mill-crushed" was transferred to the noun, assumed to mean "grinding-crushed". It is one of the many cases where syntagmatic co-occurrence is assumed to provide the etymological explanation of a word. It implies several formal manipulations, change of the vowel in -φιτον / -φατος and syncope of the first element, of which only the first two phonemes [al] are kept. The verbal adjective -φατος, from θείνω, is found only in compounds, and its relationship with θείνω was not perceptible for Greek speakers, hence the use of the equivalent φονεύω by Plutarch