δεῖ

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No

Last modification

Fri, 07/30/2021 - 13:39

Word-form

δειλός

Transliteration (Word)

deilos

English translation (word)

cowardly

Transliteration (Etymon)

dei

English translation (etymon)

it is necessary

Author

Aristotle

Century

4 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Eudemian Ethics 1221a

Ed.

F. Susemihl. Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. Leipzig: Teubner. 1884

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

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