αἱρετός
Word
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Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
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Ed.
Quotation
Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι ἐνταῦθα κούρους Ἰθάκης ἐξαιρέτους ὁ Ὁμηρικὸς Ἀντίνοος λέγει, τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων αἱρεθέντας, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπικριθέντας, οἳ καὶ ἔξαιτοι λέγονται κατὰ συγκοπήν. οἷον, ἐξαίτους ἐρέτας. οὓς καὶ ἑταίρους φθάσας εἶπεν ὁ ποιητής. καὶ σκοπητέον, μή ποτε ἐκ τοῦ αἱρετὸς ὅθεν ὁ ἐξαίρετος, γίνεται ὁ ἑταῖρος κατὰ στοιχείων μετάθεσιν ὁποία τις καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἐῤῥέθη. διὸ καὶ δασύνεται ἡ ἄρχουσα κατὰ ἀναδρομὴν τῆς δασείας πολλαχοῦ γινομένην
Translation (En)
You must know that here the Antinous of Homer calls the young men of Ithaca "chosen" (exairetous), the ones he has picked among others, that is, selected. They are also called exaitoi "chosen" by syncope as in exaitous eretas "chosen rowers" (Od. 2.307), which the poet called earlier hetairous "comrades". And one must consider if maybe hetairos "comrade" does come from hairetos "chosen", from which comes exairetos, by metathesis of the letters such as I talked about before. This is why the initial vowel has a rough breathing, because of a tendency of the aspiration to move to the beginning of the word
Parallels
There is no parallel
Bibliography
NB: the etymological notice in Beekes' EDG is contradictory about the relationship with ἔτης. On the one hand, ἑταῖρος shows no trace of initial ϝ, whereas ϝέτης does, but given the various reflexes of initial *sw- in Greek, this is not a very strong objection
Comment
Derivational etymology implying a metathesis of two letters. It was suggested by the epithet ἐξαίρετος (Od. 4.643) applying to Antinous' companions. This gives a formal basis to the general idea that a companion is willingly chosen. This is apparently an etymological proposal by Eustathius himself. Elsewhere he gives Herodian's etymology (see ἑταῖρος / ἔθος)