ὁρίζω

Word

Validation

Yes

Last modification

Fri, 10/21/2022 - 17:00

Word-form

ὧραι

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

hōrā

English translation (word)

season, period of time

Transliteration (Etymon)

horizō

English translation (etymon)

to separate from, to delimit

Author

Plato

Century

4 BC

Source

Idem

Ref.

Cratylus 410c

Ed.

J. Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903

Quotation

Αἱ μὲν δὴ ὧραι Ἀττικιστὶ ὡς τὸ παλαιὸν ῥητέον, εἴπερ βούλει τὸ εἰκὸς εἰδέναι· ΗΟΡΑΙ γάρ εἰσι διὰ τὸ 
ὁρίζειν χειμῶνάς τε καὶ θέρη καὶ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς 
τοὺς ἐκ τῆς γῆς· ὁρίζουσαι δὲ δικαίως ἂν ὅραι καλοῖντο

Translation (En)

"The word "seasons" (hōrai) should be pronounced in the old Attic fashion, horai, if you wish to know the probable meaning; HORAI "seasons" exist to divide (horizein) winters and summers and winds and the fruits of the earth; and since they divide (horizousi), they would rightly be called horai" (transl. Fowler)

Comment

This etymology, which seems to have been fairly standard, relies on the alternation between [ō] and [ŏ]. Plato invokes the old Attic script (which he wrongly calls the old Attic pronunciation, because there is as usual a confusion between the phonetic level and the graphic level), which as a matter of fact did not make any distinction between [ō] and [ŏ] and wrote ‹O› in both cases (the letter omega was introduced only at the end of the 5th c. BC). It takes hōra in the meaning "season" – the word could also mean "day", "year", "hour" (and it was borrowed into Latin with the meaning "hour"). Plato takes the hōrai as dividing (active). The same etymology may have also given rise to the symmetrical interpretation, the ὧραι are separated (passive ὁρίζομαι): this explanation is never explicit in our sources, but there are many cases where ὧραι is associated with the passive ὁρίζομαι

Parallels

Orion, Etymologicum, omega, p. 172 (Ὥρα. παρὰ τὸ ὁρίζειν, ὅρα καὶ ὥρα. παρὰ τὸ ὁρί
ζειν τὰ μέρη τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτός); Simplicius, In Aristotelis physicorum libra commentaria 9, p. 768, l. 12-13 (οἷον ἡ ὥρα χρόνου μέν ἐστι μέρος, ὁρίζει δὲ τοσήνδε κίνησιν
 τῆς περιφορᾶς τοῦ παντός); Joannes Mauropus, Etymologica nominum 112 (ὥρα δ’ ὅρος τις τῶν μερῶν τῶν τοῦ χρόνου); Etym. Gudianum, omega, p. 580 (παρὰ τὸ ὁρίζειν, ὥρωα καὶ ὥρα, παρὰ τὸ ὁρίζειν τὰ μέρη τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτός); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 823 (ἀπὸ τοῦ διορίζειν τὰ διαστήματα τῆς ἡμέρας· παρὰ τὸ ὁρίζω ὅρα καὶ ὥρα); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, omega, p. 1890 (τὸ δὲ ὥρα παρὰ τὸ ὡρεῖν, ἡ φυλάττουσα 
  τεταγμένον τὸν ἴδιον καιρόν. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ὁρίζειν, ὅρα καὶ ὥρα ἐκτάσει τοῦ ο εἰς ω).

The passive meaning implying that the seasons are "separated" is found for instance in Theophrastus, fr. 6.6 (Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ληπτέον ὅτι αἱ διχοτομίαι
 διορίζουσι τὰς ὥρας ὥστε ἐπὶ τούτων δεῖ ἀθρεῖν καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ μῆνα καὶ ἡμέραν), although not presented explicitly as an etymology

Modern etymology

Ὥρα "period of time" is cognate with Engl. year, Germ. Jahr, Avestan yārǝ "year", from *Hyoh1-r-eh2 (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Ωρα is still used in Modern Greek with the meaning "hour"

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