λαιός2 + τμῆμα
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
λαῖτμα
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
laitma
English translation (word)
depth of the sea
Transliteration (Etymon)
laios + tmēma
English translation (etymon)
left + cut
Century
12 AD
Source
Scholia in Hesiodi Opera et dies
Ref.
Scholia in Hesiodum, Op. 163
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Poetae minores Graeci [Scholia ad Hesiodum], vol. 2, Leipzig: Kühn, 1823
Quotation
Λαῖτμα. Ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ τὸ θαλάσσιον κῦμα, παρὰ τὸ λαιὸν καὶ ἀριστερὸν τμῆμα καὶ ἀπαίσιον εἶναι. Εἰς δύο γὰρ τμήματα ἡ καθ’ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένη διαιρεῖται, εἰς γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν. Καὶ δεξιὸν μὲν τμῆμα, καὶ κάλλιστον ἡ γῆ. λαιὸν δὲ καὶ φαῦλον ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς κύματα.
Translation (En)
Laitma "depth of the sea". The sea, and the sea waves, from the fact it is the left (laion), leftward (aristeron) and unfavorable part (tmēma). For our world is divided in two parts, land and sea. And the right part, the more beautiful, is the land. The left one, of little worth, is the sea with its waves.
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Unknown (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology refining on the older etymology λαῖτμα / λα- + τέμνω. Identifying the first member as λαιός accounts for the diphthong /ai/ in λαῖτμα, which the older etymology does not. Λαιός "left" is not understood with its local meaning but, as explicitly underlined by Tzetzes, with its secondary meaning opposing the right, that is, the good, and the left, that is, the bad. Thus, the sea is the "bad part" of the world.