γῆ + φέρω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
γέφυρα
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
gephura
English translation (word)
dyke
Transliteration (Etymon)
gē + pherō
English translation (etymon)
earth + to carry
Source
Idem
Ref.
Scholia in Pindarum, Nem. 6.67a
Ed.
A.B. Drachmann, Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1903; 2:1910; 3:1927
Quotation
πόντου τε γέφυρα: ὡς καὶ ἐν Ἰσθμοῖ νενικηκότος αὐτοῦ· πόντου γὰρ γέφυρα ὁ Ἰσθμός· τεσσαράκοντα τριῶν γὰρ σταδίων ἀμφιθάλασσος ἦν. καὶ ἔστι κατὰ τὸ ἔτυμον γέφυρα ἡ διὰ τῆς γῆς φέρουσα ὁδός
Translation (En)
Pontou te gephura "and the dyke of the sea": as when he won the race in the Isthm, because the Isthm is the dyke of the sea, since it has the sea along it on both sides on forty three stadiums. And gephura "dyke" means etymologically the road which carries (pherousa) through land
Parallels
Etym. Symeonis, gamma 80 (Γέφυρα· ἡ κατὰ τὸν τόπον οἰκοδομὴ δι’ ἧς οἱ ὁδοιπόροι πορεύονται εἴρηται· ἢ ἡ ἐφ’ ὑγροῦ γῆ οἱονεὶ γέφυρά τις οὖσα ἢ φυρὰ τῆς γῆς οὖσα ἡ φυραθεῖσα καὶ ἐφ’ ὑγρᾶς κειμένη. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς γῆν μεταφέρειν)
Modern etymology
Boeotian βέφυρα, Cretan δέφυρα point to *gwebh-, Isolated within Greek. Cognate with Arm. kamurǰ "bridge" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has γέφυρα "bridge"
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology identifying as the other ones the name of the earth as the first element, and innovating in the second element, which is here assumed to be φέρω, starting from the principle that the dyke allows to carry men and things from one point to another. This etymology is rather meant for the meaning "bridge". This etymology may go back already to Orion and account for the *γηφερά in Γέφυρα, οἷον γῆ ἐφ’ ὑγρῷ κειμένη, οἷον γήφερά τις οὖσα (Etymologicum, gamma, p. 37), if we assume the formulation mixes two different etymologies