ἀλφάνω + ἴτης

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Tue, 07/27/2021 - 12:39

Word-form

ἄλφιτον

Transliteration (Word)

alphi

English translation (word)

barley

Transliteration (Etymon)

alphanō + itēs

English translation (etymon)

to yield, to fetch + goer

Author

Eustathius of Thessalonica

Century

12 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 3, 273

Ed.

M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, Leiden, 1971-1987

Quotation

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

Translation (En)

The word alphiton "barley", as appears from the Odyssey, comes from alô "to grind" and phô "to kill", the one which is as crushed in the grinding process. This is why it is said mulēfatos "mill-crushed". Or from heuriskō "to find" and itēs "beggar", that which beggars find. Because barley, they say, refers properly to the bran of barley. But some say alphiton comes from the roast barley, from alphô, the first <cereal> invented.

Comment

Eustathius, after giving an older etymology (see ἄλφι / ἀλέω + φονεύω), parses the word as a compound of ἀλφάνω "to yield, to fetch", here in the meaning "to fetch", and ἴτης, a rare name of the wanderer, hence, the beggar. The etymology is elliptic: ἀλφάνω is not given explicitly as the etymon but is replaced by a more usual synonym, "to find" (εὑρίσκω). The etymology by ἀλφάνω is older (see ἄλφι / ἀλφάνω), but not with ἴτης as a second element, which may be added by Eustathius

Parallels

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)

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.

Modern etymology

Old adjective meaning "white" and cognate with ἀλφός "white", Lat. albus; see Watkins 1978

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has άλφιτο as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre