σφαγή + γάνυμαι
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
φάσγανον
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
phasganon
English translation (word)
sword
Transliteration (Etymon)
sphagē + ganumai
English translation (etymon)
slaughter + to be glad
Century
12 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 2, 441
Ed.
M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, Leiden, 1971-1987
Quotation
Καίτοι ἕτεροι ὥσπερ φάσγανον ἀπὸ τοῦ σφαγαῖς γάνυσθαι καὶ μάχαιραν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵμασι χαίρειν, οὕτω καὶ χάρμην ἀπὸ τοῦ χαίρειν αἵμασιν εἰρῆσθαί φασι
Translation (En)
And some say that, as phasganon "sword" is so named from "to be glad" (ganusthai) of the slaughter (sphagais)" and makhairan "knife" from "to rejoice (khairein) of the blood (haimasi)", so too kharmē "battle" comes from "to rejoice (khairein) of the blood (haimasin)"
Parallels
Scholia in Euripidis Hecubam 543 (φάσγανον: τὸ ξίφος τὸ ἐν σφαγαῖς γαννυσκόμενον. ἢ παρὰ τὸ φάος καὶ τὸ γάνος τὸ στίλβον οἷόν τι σκεῦος γεγανωμένον)
Modern etymology
Probably a loanword (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology parallel to that of μάχαιρα (see μάχαιρα / αἷμα + χαίρω). The first element is assumed to be σφαγή as in the competing etymology, and the second one, accounting for -γανον, the verb γάνυμαι "to be glad", yielding a head-final compound "rejoicing in slaughter". In this explanation the segmentation is φασ-γανον and the [g] has nothing to do with σφαγή. The use of a verb of emotion as the etymon of the name of an inanimate object did not seem to bother Greek etymologists, but this could relie on the Homeric line Il. 21.69-70 ἐγχείη δ’ ἄρ’ ὑπὲρ νώτου ἐνὶ γαίῃ || ἔστη ἱεμένη χροὸς ἄμεναι ἀνδρομέοιο "and the spear went over his back and stood fast in the ground, for all its desire to tear a man's flesh" (transl. Lattimore)