δεῖ
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
δειλός
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
deilos
English translation (word)
cowardly
Transliteration (Etymon)
dei
English translation (etymon)
it is necessary
Century
4 BC
Source
Idem
Ref.
Eudemian Ethics 1221a
Ed.
F. Susemihl. Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. Leipzig: Teubner. 1884
Translation (En)
Parallels
Aristotle, Ethica Eudemia 1228a (δῆλον οὖν ὅτι καὶ οἱ κατὰ τὰς ἕξεις ταύτας λεγόμενοι ὁμοίως ἀντικείσονται σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, οἷον ὁ δειλὸς (οὗτος γὰρ λέγεται κατὰ τὸ φοβεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ δεῖ καὶ θαρρεῖν ἧττον ἢ δεῖ) καὶ ὁ θρασύς); idem, Ethica Nicomachea 1115b (ὁ δὲ τῷ φοβεῖσθαι ὑπερβάλλων δειλός· καὶ γὰρ ἃ μὴ δεῖ καὶ ὡς οὐ δεῖ, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκολουθεῖ αὐτῷ); In Ethica Nicomachea libri ii-v commentaria p. 55 (Δείξας ὅτι μὴ ὁ περὶ πάντα ἃ δεῖ φοβεῖσθαι ἄφοβος ἀνδρεῖος, δείκνυσι τὸ αὐτὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, τοῦ δειλοῦ. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ πάντα ἃ μὴ δεῖ φοβεῖσθαι φοβούμενος, οὗτος δειλός)
Modern etymology
Derivative of *dwei- "to fear" found in δείδω, δεινός, δεῖμα, δέος
Persistence in Modern Greek
Yes, as a learned word
Comment
Derivational etymology relating the word to a word which has nothing to do with "fear". The etymology relies on a phrase Verb + Adjunct δείδω ὅτ' οὐ δεῖ "I fear when it is not necessary", and the etymology relates formally the circumstant (ὅτ' οὐ δεῖ) with the lemma, over the verb which semantically corresponds to the lemma. Thie etymology is repeated in Commentaries to Aristotle, but not in the lexicographical literature