ἔξω + ἰέναι
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
ξένος
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
xenos
English translation (word)
guest-friend, host, stranger
Transliteration (Etymon)
exō + ienai
English translation (etymon)
out of + to go
Century
11 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Etymologicum Gudianum, xi 414.45-46, 415.5
Ed.
F.W.Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum et alia grammaticorum scripta e codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum edita, Leipzig: Weigel, 1818
Quotation
<Ξένος>, παρὰ τὸ ἔξω ἰέναι, ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἐκτὸς τῆς ἑνότητος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ξέω, ὁ ἐξεσμένος καὶ ἀποκεχωρισμένος·[…]· <ξένος> παρὰ τὸ ἔξω εἶναι
Translation (En)
xenos ("host"): from "to go abroad" (exō ienai) or from "out of the unit" (Ektos tēs enotētos); or from "to carve" (xeō), the person who is "rubbed away" (exesmenos) and separated […]; from "to be outside" (exō einai).
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, xi 610.50 (<Ξένος>: Παρὰ τὸ ἔξω ἰέναι) ; Etym. Magnum, xi 610.53 (Ξένος. παρὰ τὸ ἔξω εἶναι τῆς πατρίδος = Ps.Zonaras, Lexicon, xi 1415) ; Georgius Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos,155.25 Gaisford (ξένος, παρὰ τὸ ἔξω εἶναι, ἢ ἔξω ναίειν)
Modern etymology
Ξένος (Ionic ξεῖνος) is from ξένϝος. It may go back to *ghs-en-, displaying the zero grade of *ghes- found in Lat. hostis "stranger, enemy", hopes "host", Got. gasts "host". Beekes (EDG) thinks it is Pre-Greek
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word survives in Modern Greek designating: 1. 'not mine', 2. 'foreign', 3. 'unknown, or guest'. Plural neuter "τα ξένα" and fem. ξενιτιά mean 'foreign land of migration'. There also are many derivatives and compounds like ξενίζω, ξενόφερτος etc.
Entry By
Arnaud Zucker
Comment
There are six main etymologies given by the ancient lexicographers for this word. We can suspect this etymological interpretation, based on a metathesis, already in Euripides (ΙΤ 1217) : ἡνίκ' ἂν δ' ἔξω περῶσιν οἱ ξένοι. See also the parallel etymology with εἶναι