ζάω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Translation (En)
But Niceratus a Macedonian, my particular acquaintance, maintained that zōron did not signify pure but hot wine; as if it were derived from zōtikos "life-giving" and zesis "boiling", and it were requisite at the coming of his friends to temper a fresh bowl, as every one of us in his offering at the altar pours out fresh wine. But Socicles the poet, remembering a saying of Empedocles, that in the great universal change those things which before were akrata"unmixed", should then be zōra, affirmed that zōron there signified eukraton, "well tempered", and that Achilles might with a great deal of reason bid Patroclus provide well-tempered wine for the entertainment of his friends; and it was not absurd (he said) to use zōroteron for zōron, any more than dexiteron "right" for dexion "right", or thēluteron "female" for thēlu "female", for the comparatives are very properly put for the positives. My friend Antipater said that years were anciently called hōroi, and that the particle za- in composition signified greatness; and therefore old wine, that had been kept for many years, was called by Achilles zōron (transl. Goodwin)
Parallels
Athenaeus, Deipn. 10.22 Kaibel (τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ παρ’ Ὁμήρῳ (I 203) ‘ζωρότερον δὲ κέραιρε’ οὐκ ἄκρατον σημαίνειν φασίν, ἀλλὰ θερμόν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ καὶ τῆς ζέσεως· ἑταίρων γὰρ παρόντων νέον ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς κεράννυσθαι κρατῆρα <οὐκ> ἄτοπον. ἄλλοι δὲ τὸ εὔκρατον, ὥσπερ τὸ δεξιτερὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ. τινὲς δέ, ἐπεὶ οἱ ἐνιαυτοὶ ὧροι λέγονται καὶ τὸ ζα ὅτι μέγεθος ἢ πλῆθος σημαίνει, ζωρὸν τὸν πολυέτη λέγεσθαι); Athenaeus, Deipn. (epitome) vol. 2.2, p. 30 (ὅτι τὸ παρ’ Ὁμήρῳ ζωρότερον οὐκ ἄκρατον σημαίνειν τινές φασιν, ἀλλὰ θερμόν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ καὶ τῆς ζέσεως· ἑταίρων γὰρ παρόντων νέον ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς κεράννυσθαι κρατῆρα ἄτοπον. ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν εὔκρατον, ὡς τὸ δεξίτερον ἀντὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ. τινὲς δέ, ἐπεὶ οἱ ἐνιαυτοὶ ὧροι λέγονται καὶ τὰ ζῷα ὅτι μέγεθος ἢ πλῆθος σημαίνει, ζωρὸν τὸν πολυέτη λέγεσθαι); D Schol. Il. 9.203 (Ζωρότερον. Ζωτικώτερον. Παρὰ τὴν ζέσιν); bT Schol. Il. 9.203a Erbse (ζωρότερον: ἀκρατότερον, παρὰ τὸ ζῆν. οἱ δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ ταχύτερον); Geneva schol. Il. 9.203 ([ζωρότερον] θερμότερον παρὰ τὴν ζέσιν, ἢ ἀκρατότερον); Orion, Etymologicum, zeta, p. 68 (Ζωρότερον. πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ, οἷον ζωότερον· ἀπὸ τοῦ ζωὸν καὶ ἰσχυρὸν εἶναι. τὸ γὰρ ζωὸν καὶ ἰσχυρόν. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου τὸ ἀκρώτερον ἠμφαίνει); Suda, zeta 162 (Ζωρόν: ζωτικόν); Eustathius, Comm. Il. 2, 700 Van der Valk (Σημείωσαι δὲ καὶ ὅτι ζωρὸν οἶνον τὸν πολυετῆ ἐνόησάν τινες, οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῆν ἢ ζέειν, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τοῦ ζῷον καὶ τοῦ ὦρος, ὧν ὦρος μὲν ὁ ἐνιαυτός, εἴτ’ οὖν ἔτος, ζῷον δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ μέγα καὶ πολύ, ἃ δὴ σημαίνεται, φασί, διὰ τῶν ζῴων); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 414 (Ζωρότερον: ‘Ζωρότερον δὲ κέραιρε’, Ἰλιάδος ιʹ· ζωτικώτερον, ἀκρατότερον, ἐνεργές· οἱ δὲ, θερμότερον· παρὰ τὸ ζωρὸς, ὁ ἄκρατος· καὶ οὐδέτερον, ζωρόν· καὶ ζωρότερον ποτόν. Ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῆν, ἢ ζεῖν, γίνεται ζωότερον, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ· ἐν ᾧ ὁ οἶνος οὐκ ἠφάνισται, ἀλλ’ ἔτι ζῇ· ἢ ζεῖ καὶ θερμός ἐστιν· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου τὸ ἀκρατότερον καὶ ἰσχυρὸν ἐμφαίνει. Ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ΖΑ καὶ τοῦ ὦρον, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν, γίνεται ζάωρος, καὶ ζωρὸς, ὁ πολυετὴς καὶ παλαιὸς οἶνος, καὶ εὔποτος ὑπὲρ τὸν νέον); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, zeta, p. 967 (Ζωρόν. τὸ ζωτικόν. καὶ ζωρότερον, ἀκρατότερον. ‘[ζωρὸν κεράσας ἰσοχειλέα’— καὶ Ὅμηρος εἰπών· ‘ζωρότερον] κέραιε’. διαφορᾶς κράσεων λέγει, ὡς μίγματος τινὸς στρεμνίους ποιοῦντος τοὺς πίνοντας. [ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῇν ζωότερον, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ρ ζωρότερον, ἐν ᾧ οἶνος οὐκ ἠφάνισται, ἀλλ’ ἔτι ζῇ] καὶ θερμότατός ἐστιν. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου τὸ ἀκρατότερον ἐμφαίνει καὶ ἰσχυρόν. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ζα καὶ τὸν ὦρον, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἐνιαυτόν· ζαωρὸς ὁ πολυετὴς καὶ παλαιὸς οἶνος καὶ εὔποτος παρὰ τὸν νέον); Scholia in Oppianum, Hal. 2.603 (Ζωρόν· γλυκὺν, θερμὸν, ἄκρατον ἢ ζωτικὸν αἷμα, τὸ ζωὴν ἐμποιοῦν)
Comment
The name of the pure wine, or almost pure, is derived from one of its properties, it is energizing and "life-giving", hence the derivation from ζάω "to live". The etymology is doubled by another one, ζέσις "boiling": ζέω "to boil" was assumed to be the etymon of ζάω (see ζάω / ζέω), therefore it could also be the pre-etymon, so to speak, of ζωρός, since it was the etymon of the etymon