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The etymological connection between ἐνίπτω, ἐνίψω, ἴψαο, (προ)ΐαψε, ἐνένῑπε and ἠνίπαπε

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2018

Elżbieta Mańczak-Wohlfeld  and
Barbara Podolak
By
Filip De Decker
Elżbieta Mańczak-Wohlfeld
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Barbara Podolak
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Filip De Decker
Affiliation:
(Gent)
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Summary

The suggested etymologies

The meaning and etymology/ies of #x1F10;#x03BD;#x1F77;#x03C0;#x03C4;#x03C9;#x002C;#x0020;#x1F10;#x03BD;#x1F77;#x03C3;#x03C3;#x03C9; (both ‘I insult’), #x1F10;#x03BD;#x1F77;#x03C8;#x03C9; ‘I will speak’, #x1F34;#x03C8;#x03B1;#x03BF; ‘you inflicted serious pain’, #x1F30;#x03AC;#x03C0;#x03C4;#x03C9; ‘I hurt, throw down’, #x03C0;#x03C1;#x03BF;#x0390;#x03B1;#x03C8;#x03B5; ‘he threw down, he sent to Hades’, #x1F10;#x03BD;#x03AD;#x03BD;#x1FD1;#x03C0;#x03B5; ‘he insulted’ and #x1F20;#x03BD;#x1F77;#x03C0;#x03B1;#x03C0;#x03B5; ‘he attacked (with a word), he insulted’ have posed problems for centuries. In what follows, an overview of the etymologies suggested so far will be given:

1. The verb #x1F10;#x03BD;#x03AF;#x03C0;#x03C4;#x03C9; was explained as a reduplicated present with ie/o suffix built on *uekw. The evolution was *eni-ui-ukw -ie/o > *eni-ui-ikw-ie/o with dissimilation > *eni-uīkw -ie/o > *eni-īkwie/o with disappearance of the intervocalic digamma > *enīkw-ie/o with contraction> #x1F10;#x03BD;#x03AF;#x03C0;#x03C4;#x03C9;#x002F;#x1F10;#x03BD;#x03AF;#x03C3;#x03C3;#x03C9;#x002E;. The reduplicated aorists ἠνίπαπε and #x1F10;#x03BD;#x03AD;#x03BD;#x1FD1;#x03C0;#x03B5; were explained as secondary inner-Greek creations.

There are nevertheless some issues with this reconstruction:

  • a. It supposed a contraction after the intervocalic digamma had fallen out, but if this verb had been an old inherited formation, the digamma would in all likelihood have been preserved.

  • b. The supposed dissimilation *eni-ui-ukw into *eni-uiikw seems to be contradicted by the so-called boukolos rule.6 An analogical restoration of the *u can only be assumed if the connection with *uekwos was still active. Beckwith is in our opinion right in assuming that this link was no longer felt by the speakers, contrary to the reduplicated aorist *ueukw-in which the *u was restored by the parallel with *uekwos.

  • c. The root *uekw is not attested in the present in Greek until very late,8 if it is to be linked with this root at all: the form ἐνέπουσι could belong to *sekw as well. There is no Greek parallel for Sanskrit vivakti and Latin invocare: the former is an athematic reduplicated form based on the full grade (and could be late),9 and the latter is based on the o grade. In addition, the coexistence of a reduplicated present and reduplicated aorist is very rare:10 the only certain example in Greek is Ἀ #x03C1;#x03B1;#x03C1;#x03AF;#x03C3;#x03BA;#x03C9;, which is a present that was built on the reduplicated aorist #x1F24;#x03C1;#x03B1;#x03C1;#x03BF;#x03BD;

    • Type
    Chapter
    Information
    Words and Dictionaries
    A Festschrift for Professor Stanisław Stachowski on the Occasion of His 85th Birthday
     , pp. 97 - 112
    Publisher: Jagiellonian University Press
    Print publication year: 2016

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