ἐμφύω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
ὀμφαλοῦ
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
omphalos
English translation (word)
navel
Transliteration (Etymon)
emphuō
English translation (etymon)
to implant
Century
1-2 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Gynaeciorum libri iv 1.57.3
Ed.
J. Ilberg, Sorani Gynaeciorum libri iv, de signis fracturarum, de fasciis, vita Hippocratis secundum Soranum [Corpus medicorum Graecorum 4. Leipzig: Teubner, 1927]
Quotation
ἀπὸ μέντοι τῶν σαρκωδεστέρων [καὶ] τῶν κατὰ τὸν πυθμένα μερῶν ἄνωθεν ἀπομηκύνεταί τι σῶμα λεπτόν, ἐμφύεται δὲ κατὰ [τὸ] μέσον τὸ τῶν ἐμβρύων ἐπιγάστριον, ἔνθα τόπος ὀμφαλοῦ· καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ ἐμβρύων ἐμφυόμενον εἰς σῶμα καλοῦμεν ὀμφαλόν
Translation (En)
From the fleshy parts at the bottom grows from above a thin body, and it is is implanted (emphuetai) in the middle of the the embryos abdomen, from where the place of the navel (omphalou). And the embryo itself, developing into a body, we call omphalon
Parallels
Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium 6.14.9 (ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐδὲμ <τοῦ> χορίου ἐκπορευόμενος ὁ ὀμφαλὸς ἐμφύῃ τῷ γεν<ν>(ω)μένῳ κατὰ τὸ ἐπιγάστριον—ὃ κοινῶς πάντες προσαγορεύουσιν ὀμφαλόν—); Etym. Gudianum, omicron, p. 428 (ὀμφαλός […] οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐμβρύων ἐμφύσεως)
Modern etymology
Old inherited name of the navel, cognate with Lat. umbilicus, Engl. navel, Germ. Nabel, OIrish imbliu (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has ομφαλός "navel" as the anatomical word or metaphorically in the meaning "center"
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology, which is only half explicit. The navel is the trace of the umbilical cord and is named after the place where the latter is attached, ἐμφύεται (the etymon is the cause of the lemma). As often, the etymon includes the preverb, here ἐμ-, which is turned into ὀμ- by the familiar alternation ε ~ ο. In the Gudianum (see Parallels) the τῆς ἐμβρύων ἐμφύσεως "the growth of the embryos" is a reformulation of the etymology by ἐμφύω, where the meaning "to implant into" is lost and only the meaning "to develop, to grow" remains.