δέρω

Validation

No

Last modification

Sat, 04/13/2024 - 11:15

Word-form

βύρσα

Transliteration (Word)

bursa

English translation (word)

leather bag

Transliteration (Etymon)

derō

English translation (etymon)

to skin

Author

Etym. Genuinun

Century

9 AD

Source

idem

Ref.

Etym. Genuinum, beta 294

Ed.

F. Lasserre and N. Livadaras, Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum una cum magna grammatica. Etymologicum magnum auctum, vol. 2, Athens: Parnassos Literary Society, 1992

Quotation

Βύρσα· παρὰ τὸ δείρω, τὸ ἐκδέρω, ὁ μέλλων Αἰολικῶς δέρσω· καὶ δέρσα καὶ βύρσα, ἡ ἐκδερομένη τῷ σώματι. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ῥύω ῥύσα καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ β καὶ καθ’ ὑπέρθεσιν βύρσα, ἡ περιρρεομένη τῷ ἱδρῶτι. οὕτως Ὦρος 

Translation (En)

Bursa "leather bag": from derō "to skin", the Aeolic future of which is *dersō, then *dersa and bursa, that which is skinned from the body. Or  from rhuō "to flow", *rhusa, and by addition of /b/ and metathesis, bursa, the one around which sweat flows (perirreomenē). This is what Orus says

Comment

Derivational etymology, guided only by meaning (leather comes from the skinned hide) and involving severe formal changes. The starting point is, as often, the future form of the verb, which provides the /s/. Here, since the future in koine Greek is δερῶ, the form *δέρσω is assumed to be Aeolic. The next step involves a change of the two initial phonemes into something else.

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 217 (Βύρσα: Παρὰ τὸ δείρω, τὸ ἐκδέρω, ὁ μέλλων Αἰολικῶς, δέρσω· καὶ δέρσα, καὶ βύρσα, ἡ ἐκδερομένη τῷ σώματι. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ῥύω, ῥύσα· καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ β, βύρσα, καθ’ ὑπερβιβασμὸν, ἡ περιρρεομένη τῷ ἱδρῶτι); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 516 (Βύρσα: Παρὰ τὸ δείρω, τὸ ἐκδέρω, ὁ μέλλων Αἰολικῶς, δέρσω· καὶ δέρσα, καὶ βύρσα, ἡ ἐκδερομένη τῷ σώματι. Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ῥύω, ῥύσα καὶ βύρσα, ἡ περιρρεομένη τῷ ἱδρῶτι); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, beta, p. 411 (Βύρσα. παρὰ τὸ δέρω τὸ ἐκδέρω, ὁ μέλλων αἰολικῶς δέρσω, καὶ δέρση, ἡ βύρσα ἡ ἐκδερομένη τοῦ σώματος. [ἢ παρὰ τὸ ῥύω, ῥύσα, ἡ περιῤῥεομένη τῷ ἱδρῶτι.])

Modern etymology

Unknown (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has βύρσα "prepared skin" as a learned word

Entry By

Le Feuvre