δέω1

Word

Validation

No

Last modification

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 22:40

Word-form

δύη

Transliteration (Word)

duē

English translation (word)

misery, hardship

Transliteration (Etymon)

deō

English translation (etymon)

to bind

Author

Etym. Magnum

Century

12 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Magnum, p. 290

Ed.

T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848

Quotation

Δύη: Ἡ κακοπάθεια· οἷον, ‘[ἦ γάρ με] δύη ἔχει ἤλιθα πολλή’. Ἀπὸ τοῦ δῶ, τὸ δεσμεύω· ὅθεν, ‘Συνδεῖτε ταχέως τουτονὶ τὸν κυνοκλόπον’. Οὗ παράγωγον, δέω· ἀφ’ οὗ, ‘Πῶς ἂν ἐγώ σε δέοιμι;’ Ὀδυσσείας θʹ, ἀντὶ τοῦ δεσμεύοιμι, κρατοῖμι· καὶ δεμὸς καὶ δεσμὸς, ὡς θέω, θεσμός. Ἀπὸ τοῦ δέω οὖν γίνεται δύω, ὡς ῥέω ῥύω ῥύσις, καὶ χέω χύω χύσις. Δύω οὖν δύη, ἡ συνδεδεμένη τῷ πάσχοντι· ἢ ᾗτινι συνδέδεταί τις δυστυχίᾳ κακοπαθῶν. Ἢ λύη τις οὖσα, ἡ λύουσα τὰ μέλη· ὅθεν καὶ δοῦλος ὁ δυστυχὴς καὶ κακῶς πάσχων, δύηλός τις ὤν.

Translation (En)

Duē "misery", the suffering. As in ‘ē gar me duē ekhei ēlitha pollē’ (Od. 14.215). From "to bind", from which ‘sundeite takheōs toutoni ton kunoklopon’. The derivative of which is deō, from which ‘pōs an egō se deoimi’, Odyssey 8<.352>, instead of desmeuoimi "I would bind", I would overpower you. And *demos and desmos "rope", like theō, thesmos. So, from deō comes duō, as from rheō "to flow" rhuō, rhusis, and from kheō "to pour", khuō, khusis. <From> duō, therefore, comes duē "misery", the one bound to the suffering man, or the one to which a suffering man is bound by hardship. Or a kind of dissolution (luē), the one breaking the limbs – from where doulos "slave", the unfortunate man suffering a bad fate, a *duēlos, as it were

Comment

Derivational etymology. The noun is etymologized by the verb "to bind", which is δέω, and not δύω. However, several dissyllabic verbs in -έω have a variant in -ύω – at least, so it seemed to Greek scholars (these verbs are what we call the semi-contracted type, from roots with final /w/). Accordingly, it was not difficult to derive from δέω an unattested *δύω "to bind", since this was backed by a clear parallel, and to derive from the latter the noun δύη.

Parallels

Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, delta, p. 579 (Δύη. ἡ κακοπάθεια. ἡ δυστυχία. [ἀπὸ τοῦ δῶ τὸ δεσμῶ, οὗ παράγωγον δέω, ἀφ’ οὗ δέοιμι. ἀπὸ τοῦ δέω οὖν δύω, ὡς ῥέω, ῥύω καὶ ῥύσις. ἡ συνδεδεμένη τῷ πάσχοντι, ἢ ᾗτινι συνδέδεται τὶς κακοπάθεια])

Modern etymology

The connection with δαίω "to burn" (Beekes, EDG) is probably incorrect. See Le Feuvre (forthcoming)

Persistence in Modern Greek

No

Entry By

Le Feuvre