ἀ- + θεῖος
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ἠθεῖος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
ētheios
English translation (word)
trusty, honoured
Transliteration (Etymon)
a- + theios
English translation (etymon)
very + divine
Century
13 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Lexicon, eta, p. 980
Ed.
J.A.H. Tittmann, Iohannis Zonarae lexicon ex tribus codicibus manuscriptis, 2 vols., Leipzig: Crusius, 1808 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967)
Quotation
Ἠθεῖε. προφώνημα νέου πρὸς πρεσβύτερον. ἢ ἠθεῖος ὁ πάππος. παρὰ τὸ θεὸς θέϊος, κατὰ συναίρεσιν θεῖος, κατ’ ἐπέκτασιν ἠθεῖος, ὡς βαιὸν ἠβαιὸν, μύει ἠμύει. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἔθος ἐθεῖος, καὶ ἠθεῖος κατ’ ἔκτασιν. ἢ ἠθεῖος ὁ ἄγαν θεῖος καὶ θαυμαστός
Translation (En)
ētheie: address of a young man to an older one. As ētheios the grandfather. From theos "god", theïos "divine", by syneresis theios, by extension ētheios, as in baion / ēbaion, muei / ēmuei. Or from ethos "custom", etheios, and ētheios by lengthening. Or ētheios the "very divine" (agan theios) and admirable one
Parallels
Gennadius Scholarius, Grammatica, 2, p. 44 (Τὸ η πρὸ τοῦ θ ἔστιν ἐν τούτοις· ἦθος· καὶ ἠθάς ἠθάδος, ὁ συνήθης· ἠθεῖος, ὁ πάππος, ἢ ὁ ἄγαν θεῖος)
Modern etymology
Derivative of ἦθος meaning properly ‘familiar, customary’ (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology designed to account for the initial ή- left unexplained in Herodian's etymology by θεῖος (where it is presented as a mere pathos) (see ήθεῖος / θεῖος). The vowel is parsed as a variant of the intensive particle ἀ- (ἐπιτατικός), hence the translation ἄγαν θεῖος "very divine". Greek grammarians knew the privative alpha (which they equated with the "intensive" alpha) could be lengthened, as in ᾱθάνατος, and since ᾱ corresponds to η in Ionic, this could seem a plausible explanation