οὑρανός

Frisk Etymological English

Grammatical information: m.
Meaning: heaven, sky (Il.), also personified (Hes.).
Other forms: Dor. Boeot. ὠρανός, Aeol. ὤρανος, ὄρανος (both prob. for ὄρρ-, s. below).
Compounds: Often as 1. member, e.g. οὑρανο-μήκης sky-high (ε 239); in hypostases like ἐπ-ουράν-ιος in the sky (Il.).
Derivatives: 1. Dimin. οὑρανίσκος m. tent-roof, palate (hell.), also name of a constellation (sch.; Scherer Gestirnnamen 193); 2. οὑράν-ιος heavenly (Pi., IA.), -ίς f. (AP); -ία f. name of one of the Muses (Hes.); 3. Οὑραν-ίωνες (θεοί) m. pl. the heavenly (gods) (Hom., Hes.), also the Titans (Ε 898; from Οὑρανός); -ίδης, Dor. -ίδας son of Ouranos, pl. the Titans, also the heavenly (Hes., Pi.; Fraenkel Nom. ag. 2, 20); 4.Οὑραν-ιάς f. game to worship Ourania (Sparta); 5. οὑραν-ίζω or -ίζομαι to go up high (A.Fr. 766 M.), -ιάζω to toss up high (H. s. οὑρανίαν), -οῦσθαι raised up into the sky, to become deified with -ωσις (Eust.).
Origin: XX [etym. unknown]
Etymology: As the Aeol. variation ὠρ-, ὀρ- prob. represents a geminated ὀρρ- (Wackernagel Unt. 136 n. 1), the basis will have been *(Ϝ)ορσανός with accent as ὀρφανός and so perh. from a noun *(Ϝ)ορσό- = Skt. varṣá- n. m. rain (cf. Wackernagel KZ 29, 129 = Kl. Schr. 1,632). As e.g. ὄχανον, ξόανον can go back to ἔχω, ξέω, οὑρανός can as nom. ag. belong to a primary verb *Ϝερσ- = Skt. várṣati rain; it can however also be derived from the iterative οὑρέω (s. v.), like Indo-Ir. nouns in -ana are connected with second. verbs in -ayati ( = Gr. -έω, Wack.-Debrunner II: 2, 198ff.); meaning then "rainmaker" or metaph. "moistener, impregnator" (Wackernagel l.c.; cf. ἕρση). -- After Specht KZ 66, 199ff. (with Schulze), Fraenkel (s.Wb. s. viršùs) a.o. as "der zur Höhe in Beziehung stehende" to Skt. varṣman- m. n. hight, Lith. viršùs upper, highest seat, to which one connected also Ἔρρος ὁ Ζεύς H. (IE *u̯er-s- WP. 1, 267, Pok. 1151f.?); neither factually nor formally to be preferred. It has also been suggested that the word is of foreign, i.e. Pre-Greek, origin (DELG); note that -αν- is difficult to account for if the word were of IE origin. -- Against the old, often repeated but certainly wrong identification with the Skt. gods name Varuṇaḥ s. except Wackernagel l.c. also Thieme Mitra and Aryaman (Trans. Connecticut Acad. 41 [1957]) 60.