λα- + βορέας
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
λάβρος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
labros
English translation (word)
violent, impetuous
Transliteration (Etymon)
boreas
English translation (etymon)
Boreas, north wind
Century
9 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, lambda 2
Ed.
A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2. Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995: 59-761.
Quotation
λάβρος (Β 148): ὁ ἀδηφάγος. ἐκ τοῦ βορά, ὃ σημαίνει τὴν τροφήν. —ἔστι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Βορέας, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἄνεμον.
Translation (En)
labros "impetuous": the voracious one. It comes from bora which means "food". But it is also etymologized from Boreas, which means the <north> wind.
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, lambda, p. 359 (Λάβρος, ὁ ἀδδηφάγος, ἐκ τοῦ βορὰ, ὃ σημαίνει τὴν τροφήν· ἔστι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ βορέας, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἄνεμον); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 553 (Λάβρος: Ὁ ἀδηφάγος. Ἐκ τοῦ βορὰ (ὃ σημαίνει τὴν τροφὴν) καὶ τοῦ ΛΑ ἐπιτατικοῦ μορίου. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ βορέας, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ἄνεμον, ὡς τὸ, Λάβρος ἐπαιγίζων. Σφοδρὸς ἐπικαταπνέων. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ΛΑ καὶ τὸ βῶ, τὸ βαίνω.)
Modern etymology
Unclear (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has λάβρος as a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology parsing the word as a compound consisting of the intensive prefix λα- "very" and the name of a wind. In Homer λαβρός is used as an epithet of winds, which suggested the etymology, although λαβρός is never used for Boreas in Homer. The etymology implies a syncope of the [o].