γονή + νωμάω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
γνώμη
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
gnômē
English translation (word)
thought, judgement
Transliteration (Etymon)
gonē + nōmaō
English translation (etymon)
offspring + to observe
Century
4 BC
Source
Idem
Ref.
Cratylus 411d6-7
Ed.
Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford UP, 1903
Translation (En)
Other translation(s)
Modern Greek: και η γνώμη, αν θέλεις, οπωσδήποτε δηλώνει τη σκέψη και τον στοχασμό του γόνου, γιατί το να σκέφτεται κανείς είναι το ίδιο με το να στοχάζεται
Parallels
This etymology is never repeated in later literature, except for one instance in the Etymologicum Gudianum, where the derivation from νωμάω alone (without any mention of γονή) is given as an alternative explanation: ἢ παρὰ τὸ νωμῶ, τὸ μερίζω, νώμη καὶ γνώμη (Additamenta in Etymologicum Gudianum, p. 318), but there the meaning retained for νωμάω is "to divide" and not "to observe".
Modern etymology
Γνώμη is derived from the Indo-European root *g̑neh3- "to know", found in Greek in γιγνώσκω, ἔγνων, in Latin in nōscō, nōvī, and in English in to know (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
The word "γνώμη" is still used in Modern Greek, with the meaning 'opinion'
Comment
The word is parsed as a compound in which the first element is reduced to its initial consonant.