ὄζω

Validation

No

Last modification

Tue, 06/01/2021 - 15:39

Word-form

ῥόδον

Transliteration (Word)

rhodon

English translation (word)

rose

Transliteration (Etymon)

ozō

English translation (etymon)

to smell

Author

Herodian

Century

2 AD

Source

Orion

Ref.

Etymologicum, rho, p. 140

Ed.

F. Sturz, Orionis Thebani etymologicon, Leipzig, Weigel, 1820

Quotation

Ῥόδον. τὸ ἄνθος. παρὰ τὸ ὄζω ὄδον ἐστὶ, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ, ῥόδον. οὕτως Ἡρωδιανὸς ἐν Ἐπιμερισμοῖς

Translation (En)

Rhodon "rose": the flower. From ozō "to smell", *odon, and through adjunction of [r], rhodon. This is what Herodian says in the Epimerisms

Comment

Descriptive derivational etymology etymologizing the noun of the flower from its main feature, smell. It implies a formal manipulation, the adjunction of the initial consonant. The Etym. Gudianum explains it as an antiphrasis because in Byzantine Greek ὄζω specialized in the meaning "to stink" (which is its meaning in Modern Greek), yielding what appears as an etymology a contrario.

Parallels

Epimerismi omerici ordine alphabetico traditi, mu 67 (ὡς γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄζω ὄδον καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ ῥόδον καὶ κρύω κρύον, οὕτως παρὰ τὸ μέλον ἐκτάσει τοῦ ε εἰς η μῆλον); Etym. Gudianum, rho, p. 493 (Ῥοδὸν, τὸ ἄνθος, παρὰ τὸ ζώοδον, καὶ ῥοδὸν, τὸ τὴν ζωὴν δωρούμενον, διὰ τῆς εὐωδίας· καὶ ῥοδὸν κατ’ ἀντίφρασιν, τὸ μὴ ὄζον ἀλλ’ εὔοσμον ὄν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 705 (Ῥόδον: Παρὰ τὸ ὄζω, ὄδον, καὶ ῥόδον κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν, τὸ μὴ ὄζον, ἀλλ’ εὔοσμον ὄν); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, rho, p. 1619 (Ῥόδον. παρὰ τὸ ὄζω ὄδον καὶ ῥόδον κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν); Scholia in Theocritum (vetera) 5.93a (ῥόδον παρὰ τὸ θᾶττον ἀπορρεῖν· ῥοῶδες γάρ ἐστιν ἤτοι συντόμως φθειρόμενον. ἢ <ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥεῖν> ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ τὴν ὀδμὴν ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄζω)

Modern etymology

Loanword, maybe from Iranian (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has ρόδο as a learned word and many compounds in ροδο-. The usual word is τριανταφυλλο "thirty-petal"

Entry By

Le Feuvre