ἕλειος
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ἐλέφας
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
elephas
English translation (word)
elephant
Transliteration (Etymon)
heleios
English translation (etymon)
of marshes
Century
3-2 BC
Reference
Historia animalium epitome, 2.111
Edition
S. P. Lampros, Excerptorum Constantini de natura animalium libri duo. Aristophanis historiae animalium epitome [Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca suppl. 1.1. Berlin: Reimer, 1885]
Source
Aelianus
Ref.
De natura animalium 4.25
Ed.
M. García Valdés, L. A. Llera Fueyo, and L. Rodríguez-Noriega Guillén, Claudius Aelianus de natura animalium [Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (BT). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009]
Quotation
ἀσπάζεται γὰρ ὁ ἐλέφας τὰ ἔνδροσα χωρία καὶ μαλακά, καὶ φιλεῖ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ἤθεσι διαιτᾶσθαι ἐθέλει, καὶ ὡς ἂν εἴποις ἕλειός ἐστι
Translation (En)
The elephant likes well watered and soft places, and it likes water, and it will spend its time in this customary environment, and you could call it heleios "(animal) of the swamps"
Parallels
There is no direct parallel. However, the compositional etymology found in the Byzantine Etymologica is ultimately related to this etymology (see ἐλέφας / ἕλος + βαίνω)
Modern etymology
Loanword (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has ελέφας or (more common) ελέφαντας
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology referring to the animal's environment and preferred habitat. Shortly above, Aelian says that the people of India, being unable to catch an adult elephant, simply catch their young when they are in those swamps. The etymology probably comes from Aristophanes and was not invented by Aelian. It is unclear whether the etymon intended is ἕλειος, the adjective, or ἕλος "swamp", the noun. Aristophanes may have commented on the loss of aspiration, but if he did, this was not repeated by Aelian