φείδομαι + δίδωμι
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
φειδωλός
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
pheidōlos
English translation (word)
sparing
Transliteration (Etymon)
pheidomai + didōmi
English translation (etymon)
to spare + to give
Century
10 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Suda, phi 250
Ed.
A. Adler, Suidae Lexicon, Leipzig: Teubner, 1928-1935
Quotation
Φειδωλός: φειδόμενος, σκνιπός. Φειδωλός τις ὤν, ὁ φεύγων τὸ δοῦναι ὁ περίψηφος. ἢ παρὰ τὸ φείδομαι καὶ τὸ δοῦναι, φειδωδός τις ὤν, τροπῇ τοῦ δ εἰς λ
Translation (En)
Pheidōlos "sparing", "stingy". This one is pheidōlos who flees (pheugōn) the giving (dounai), the calculator. Or from pheidomai "to spare" and dounai "to give", a *pheidōdos, by change of the [d] into [l]
Parallels
Scholia in Aristophanem, Plut. 237 (scholia vetera) (Φειδωλός ἐστιν ὁ φεύγων τὸ δοῦναι, ὁ περίψηφος. τινὲς δὲ παρὰ τὸ φείδομαι καὶ τὸ δοῦναι,(φειδωδός τις ὢν, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ δ εἰς λ φειδωλός))
Modern etymology
Derived from φείδομαι
Persistence in Modern Greek
Yes, a a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology including as its first element the verb from which the adjective is derived, which results in a tautological etymology: the sparing man is the one who spares on giving. Nothing is left from the second element "to give", since the consonant [d] is assumed to change into [l]. This etymology was probably modeled after Herodian's etymology (see φειδωλός / φεύγω + δίδωμι), in which δίδωμι was necessary to provide the [d].