ἀλέγω
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
Ἀλεγεινός (Ν 569) καὶ ἀλεγεινῆς (Δ 99 ...)· ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀλγεινῆς, χαλεπῆς· οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλέγω ἀλεγεινός οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλέω ἐλεεινός, ἐπεὶ ὤφελον γράφεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ι, τὰ γὰρ εἰς νος ὀξύτονα μὴ ὄντα παρώνυμα διὰ τοῦ ι γράφονται, τάχα ταχινός, ἀληθές ἀληθινός, χθές χθεσινός, πύκα πυκινός, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινός καὶ ἔλεος ἐλεεινός διὰ τῆς ει διφθόγγου ὡς παρώνυμα
Translation (En)
Alegeinos "painful", and alegeinēs: instead of algeinēs, painful. Alegeinos is not derived from alegō "to care for", nor is eleeinos "miserable" from eleō "to pity", for it ought to be spelled with a /I/. For the oxytone words in -nos that are not derived <from nouns> are spelled with /I/, takha "quickly, soon", tachinos "quick", khthes "yesterday", khthesinos "of yesterday", puka "densely", pukinos "dense". Rather, from algos "pain" is derived algeinos, and from eleos "pity" eleeinos "miserable", with the diphthong /ei/, as regular derivatives
Parallels
Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, alpha 321 (ἀλεγεινός: ἐπώδυνος. ὁ ποιητὴς ‘ἔνθα μάλιστα | γίνετ’ Ἄρης ἀλεγεινός’ (Ν 568-69). παρὰ τὸ ἀλέγειν, τὸ φροντίζειν, οὗ παράγωγον τὸ ἀλεγίζω. ἢ μᾶλλον παρώνυμον· ἄλγος ἀλγεινός. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀλέγω ἄλεγος· τὰ γὰρ λυπηρὰ πάντα φροντίδος ἄξια· ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλεγος οὖν ἀλεγεινός, ὁ ἀλγεῖν ποιῶν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 58 (Ἀλεγεινῆς: Ἀλγεινῆς, χαλεπῆς. Οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλέγω ἀλεγεινὸς, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλεῶ ἐλεεινός· ἐπειδὴ ὤφειλε γράφεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ι· τὰ γὰρ εἰς ΝΟΣ ὀξύτονα, μὴ ὄντα παρώνυμα, διὰ τοῦ ἰῶτα γράφονται· οἷον τάχα ταχινὸς, πύκα πυκινὸς, ἀληθὲς ἀληθινὸς, χθὲς χθεσινός· ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινὸς, καὶ ἀλεγεινός· καὶ ἔλεος, ἐλεεινὸς, πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ε. Καὶ γράφεται διὰ διφθόγγου, ὡς παρώνυμον); Etym. Symeonis, vol. 1, p. 264 (ἀλεγεινός (Ν 569)· οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλέγω ἀλεγεινός οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλεῶ ἐλεεινός, ἐπεὶ ὤφειλε διὰ τοῦ ι γράφεσθαι, οἷον τάχα ταχινός, ἀληθές ἀληθινός, χθές χθεσινός, πύκα πυκινός, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινός καὶ ἔλεος ἐλεεινός ὡς παρώνυμα καὶ γράφεται διὰ τῆς ει διφθόγγου); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 130 (τὸ δὲ ἀλέγω παρὰ τὸ λέγω, τὸ φροντίζω,] ἀφ’ οὗ λόγος ἡ φροντὶς, καὶ ἀλέγω, ἀλεγεινὸς, οὐ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλεῶ, ἐλεεινὸς, ἐπεὶ ὤφειλε γράφεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ι. τὰ γὰρ εἰς νος ὀξύτονα, μὴ ὄντα παρώνυμα, διὰ τοῦ ι γράφεται· οἷον τάχα ταχινὸς, ἀλήθεια ἀληθινὸς, χθὲς χθεσινὸς, πύκα πυκινὸς, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινὸς καὶ ἔλεος ἐλεεινὸς, καὶ γράφεται διὰ τῆς ει διφθόγγου ὡς παρώνυμον); Scholia in Sophoclem, Aj. 494e (recentiora) (ἀλγεινὸν οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλέγω ἀλεγεινὸς οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλέω ἐλεεινός, ἐπεὶ ὤφειλε γράφεσθαι <διὰ τοῦ ι>, ὡς τάχα ταχινὸς καὶ πύκα πυκινός, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλγος ἀλγεινὸς καὶ ἔλεος ἐλεεινὸς ὡς παρώνυμα διὰ δίφθογγον)
Bibliography
On the detail of the semantic and formal evolution of ἀλέγω, ἄλγος, -ηλεγής in Greek, see Claire Le Feuvre, Ὅμηρος δύσγνωστος. Réinterprétations de termes homériques à date archaïque et classique. Geneva, Droz, 2015. Pp. 203–254 [however, the Germanic comparanda mentioned are probably not related]. Ἀλεγεινός is derived from an old noun *ἄλεγος, preserved in compounds in -ηλεγής (Homer). This *ἄλεγος "pain" matches the verb ἀλέγω which originally means "to suffer". Later one, but in pre-Homeric times, *ἄλεγος was remodeled into ἄλγος, and consequently, its derivative ἀλεγεινός was remodeled into ἀλγεινός. The verb "to suffer" was replaced by the new verb ἀλγέω, derived from ἄλγος, and the old ἀλέγω, left alone, was specialized in the negative phrase οὐκ ἀλέγω "I don't care" (originally "I don't suffer, it does not hurt"), with a secondary evolved meaning.
Comment
Derivational etymology, explicitly mentioned as incorrect – which means that it was not uncommon in grammatical literature. The problems about spelling can be summed up as: derivatives from nouns have -εινός, derivatives from other categories have -ινός. Notice that all three examples quoted (ταχινός, χθεσινός, πυκινός) are derived from adverbs, so that one could object that this rule does not necessarily apply to adjectives derived from verbs (ἀλέγω, ἐλέω) as the ones under consideration. However, this rules leads to the "refutation" of the etymology of ἀλεγεινός by ἀλέγω. From the semantic point of view, the etymology is unproblematic: we are preoccupied by pain. Ps.-Zonaras did not understand what he was copying (see Parallels)