βαίνω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
βόθρος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
bothros
English translation (word)
hole, trench
Transliteration (Etymon)
bainō
English translation (etymon)
to go
Century
11 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum, beta, p. 276
Ed.
E. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum 1 , Leipzig 1909
Quotation
Βόθρος· παρὰ τὸ βῶ βέω (ἐξ οὗ καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ι βείω) βέθρος καὶ βόθρος κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν, ἐφ’ ὃν οὐδεὶς βαίνει· ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάθος βάθρος καὶ βόθρος
Translation (En)
Bothros "hole": from bô "I go", beō (from which, through the addition of i, beiō), *bethros and bothros by antiphrasis, the one over which nobody goes; or from bathus "deep", *bathros and bothros
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 204 (Βόθρος: Δῆλον τὸ σημαινόμενον. Ὅμηρος, ‘Βόθρον ὀρύξαι ὅσον τε πυγούσιον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα’. Παρὰ τὸ βῶ, βέω, βέθρος, καὶ βόθρος, κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν, ἐφ’ ὃν οὐδεὶς βαίνει· ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάθος, βάθρος, καὶ βόθρος. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάραθρον, συγκοπῇ καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ α εἰς ο)
Modern etymology
Probably cognate with Lat. fodiō "to dig", from *bhedh- "to dig", with initial [b] analogical after βαθύς (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
Yes, as a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology relying on an antiphrasis: the trench is what on which one does not walk (etymology a contrario). It implies a suffix -θρο- and a formal manipulation, a change of the vowel