δειλός
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
δειλία
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
deilia
English translation (word)
cowardice
Transliteration (Etymon)
deilos
English translation (etymon)
cowardly
Century
12 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 3, 232
Ed.
M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, Leiden, 1971-1987
Quotation
Ἰστέον δὲ καὶ ὅτι τὸ «δειλός», ὁ δεδιὼς τὰς ἴλας, ὁ καὶ φύξηλις, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ἡ δειλία καὶ τὸ δειλαίνεσθαι, παρὰ τοῖς μεθ’ Ὅμηρον μάλιστα ἐπλεόνασεν
Translation (En)
You must know that deilos "cowardly", the one who fears the troops, who is also called fugitive (phuxēlis), from which also deilia "cowardice" and deilainesthai "to be a coward", was very much used after Homer
Modern etymology
Δειλία is an abstract noun in -ία derived from δειλός "coward", belonging with δέος "fear", δείδω "I fear". Indo-European root *dwei- (Beekes, EDG).
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word δειλία is still used in MG with the meaning 'lack of courage, cowardice' (Triandafyllidis Dictionary of MG).
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Correct derivation by which δειλία is drawn from the adjective δειλός. This was an obvious derivation, which explains why it is not found explicitly in our sources before Eustathius.