ἄνω + ὤψ
Word
Validation
Word-form
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
English translation (word)
Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (etymon)
Century
Source
Ref.
Ed.
Quotation
ἄνθρωπος μὲν κατὰ τὸ…ἄνω ἔχειν τοὺς ὦπας
Translation (En)
anthrôpos "man" according to… or ‘holding his countenance (ôps) aloft (anō)’ (Transl. D. Blank)
Other translation(s)
Modern Greek: και ονομάζεται άνθρωπος σύμφωνα με το ότι κρατάει την όψη του προς τα επάνω
Parallels
Etymologicum Gudianum 148 (<Ἄνθρωπος>· παρὰ τὸ ἄνω <ἀ>θρεῖν τὰς ὦπας, ἤγουν ἄνω ὁρᾶν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς· ὦπες γὰρ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ λέγονται. <Ἄνθρωπος>· παρὰ τὸ ἄνω <ἀ>θρεῖν τὴν ὦπα, ἤγουν ἄνω θεωρεῖν τὸ βλέμμα· πάντων γὰρ τῶν κτηνῶν κάτω βλεπόντων, μόνος ὁ ἄνθρωπος βλέπει ἄνω. <οἷον ἀνώ>θρωπος)
Elliptic etymology with a synonym for "to see": Maximus, Dissertatio 13.6 (τὴν δὲ ὑποφῆται θεῶν ἄνθρωποι, οὐ χαμαιεῦναι καθ’ Ὅμηρον οὐδὲ ἀνιπτόποδες, ἀλλὰ ἄνω εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁρῶντες); Joannes Mauropus, Etymologica nominum 128 (ἄνω βλέπει γάρ)
Comment
Ammonius of Hermeias includes the famous etymology given in the Cratylus (see the respective etymology), but he also gives two etymologies which do not occur in other texts. Obviously all three etymologies give him satisfactory explanations for various aspects of the nature of human beings. The etymologies are descriptive and this one refers to the upright position of man, which results in having the head (hear metonymically the eyes) higher than the body, as opposed to animals. The etymology is often found in the form of an elliptic etymology, with ὤψ or ὄπωπα replaced by the common verb βλέπειν (which of course is not the etymon, but a synonym of the real etymon)