ζα- + ὥρα

Word

ζωρός

Validation

Last modification

Thu, 08/05/2021 - 14:03

Word-form

ζωρόν

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ-1 .

LSJ-2

Transliteration (Word)

zōros

English translation (word)

pure (wine)

Transliteration (Etymon)

za- + hōra

English translation (etymon)

much + season, year

Author

Plutarch

Century

1-2 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Quaestiones convivales 677e

Ed.

G.N. Bernardakis, Plutarch. Moralia. Leipzig, Teubner, 1889 (2)

Quotation

Νικήρατος μὲν οὖν ὁ ἑταῖρος ἡμῶν ὁ Μακεδὼν ἄντικρυς ἀπισχυρίζετο μὴ ἄκρατον ἀλλὰ θερμὸν εἰρῆσθαι τὸ ‘ζωρὸν’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ καὶ τῆς ζέσεως, ὃ δὴ καὶ λόγον ἔχειν, ἀνδρῶν ἑταίρων παρόντων νέον ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς κεράννυσθαι κρατῆρα· καὶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς, ὅταν τοῖς θεοῖς ἀποσπένδειν μέλλωμεν, νεοκρᾶτα ποιεῖν. Σωσικλῆς δ’ ὁ ποιητὴς τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἐπιμνησθεὶς εἰρηκότος ἐν τῇ καθόλου μεταβολῇ γίνεσθαι (fr. 35, 15) ‘ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ἄκρητα’ μᾶλλον ἔφη τὸ εὔκρατον ἢ τὸ ἄκρατον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ζωρὸν λέγεσθαι καὶ μηδέν γε κωλύειν ἐπικελεύεσθαι τῷ Πατρόκλῳ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα παρασκευάζειν εὔκρατον εἰς πόσιν τὸν οἶνον· εἰ δ’ ἀντὶ τοῦ ζωροῦ ‘ζωρότερον’ εἶπεν, ὥσπερ ‘δεξιτερὸν’ ἀντὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ καί ‘θηλύτερον’ ἀντὶ τοῦ θήλεος, οὐκ ἄτοπον εἶναι· χρῆσθαι γὰρ ἐπιεικῶς ἀντὶ τῶν ἁπλῶν τοῖς συγκριτικοῖς. Ἀντίπατρος δ’ ὁ ἑταῖρος ἔφη τοὺς μὲν ἐνιαυτοὺς ἀρχαϊκῶς ‘ὥρους’ λέγεσθαι, τὸ <δὲ> ζα μέγαθος εἰωθέναι σημαίνειν· ὅθεν τὸν πολυετῆ καὶ παλαιὸν οἶνον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ζωρὸν ὠνομάσθαι

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)

Comment

Compositional etymology parsing the word as a possessive compound, "having many years". The Aeolic particle ζα- was well known from several Homeric examples, and the contraction with ὥρα "season" regularly yields [ō].

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); 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)

Modern etymology

Isolated in Greek. Cognate with Slavic jarъ "violent" (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Entry By

Le Feuvre

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