λίαν + νέω2
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
λινόν
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
linon
English translation (word)
flax
Transliteration (Etymon)
lian + neō
English translation (etymon)
much + to weave
Century
9 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Genuinum, lambda 114
Ed.
K. Alpers, Bericht über Stand und Methode der Ausgabe des Etymologicum genuinum [Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Hist.-filol. Meddelelser 44.3. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1969]
Quotation
Λινόν: τὸ ἔριον, ἀπὸ τῆς λειότητος. ἢ τὸ λεπτὸν ὕφασμα λινὸν ἔλεγον παρὰ τὸ λίαν νενῆσθαι.
Translation (En)
Linon "flax", the wool, because it is smooth (leiotētos). Or they used to call the fine fabric linon because it is much (lian) woven (nenēsthai)
Parallels
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 566 (Λινόν: Τὸ λῖνος σημαίνει τὸ ἔριον· λινὸν δὲ, τὸ λινοῦν. Τὸ ἔριον, ἀπὸ τῆς λειότητος. Ἢ τὸ λεπτὸν ὕφασμα λινὸν ἔλεγον, παρὰ τὸ λίαν νενῆσθαι)
Modern etymology
Cognates in Baltic and Slavic. A form *līno- is found in Latin (līnum) and Celtic (OIr. lín "net") (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has λινάρι "flax"; λινο- is only found in learned compounds
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Compositional etymology, maybe relying on the Homeric line γεινομένῳ νήσαντο λίνῳ "they wove with the flax thread for him at birth" (Od. 7.198), according to the principle that a syntagmatic co-occurrence points to an etymological connection.