ὠθέω

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • ὠθῶ (ōthô)

Etymology

Possible Greek relations, even if ruled out by Beekes as highly unlikely, are the verbal present form ἔθει (éthei), the participle ἔθων (éthōn, damaging, plaguing; pushing, tossing (?)) and the nouns ἔθρις (éthris, castrated ram), ἔθειρα (étheira, horses' hair, mane). The lemma could be an old lengthened grade of one of the underlying roots. Compare ὄθομαι (óthomai, to show consideration for others, fight shy of), only used with a negative particle, ὄθη (óthē, worry, care, fear, consideration) and νωθρός (nōthrós, sluggish, slothful).

Taking in account Avestan 𐬬𐬁𐬛𐬁𐬌𐬌𐬋𐬌𐬝 (vādāiiōit̰, he may push back) and Sanskrit अवधीत् (ávadhīt, he killed) (root वध् (vadh, to kill, destroy (a man's ability to procreate))), as well as Hittite [script needed] (ḫuett-tta(ri), to draw, pull), Beekes constructed a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂wedʰh₁- (to push away, slay), whence an iterative *h₂wodʰh₁-éye-ti.[1] Mark that also ἔθρις (éthris) seems to be cognate to Sanskrit वध्रि (vádhri, castrated).

Pronunciation

 

Verb

ὠθέω • (ōthéō)

  1. (transitive) to push

Conjugation

Derived terms

  • ἀπωθέω (apōthéō)
  • διωθέω (diōthéō)
  • ἐξωθέω (exōthéō)
  • περιωθέω (periōthéō)
  • ὠσμός (ōsmós)

Descendants

  • Greek: ωθώ (othó)

References

  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ὠθέω, -έομαι”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1676

Further reading