ὀφθαλμός: Difference between revisions

{{etym

|etymtx=Grammatical information: m.<br />Meaning: [[eye]] (Il.).<br />Other forms: Boeot. <b class="b3">ὄκταλλος</b>, Epid. Lac. <b class="b3">ὀπτίλ(λ)ος</b>.<br />Compounds: Often as 2. member, e.g. <b class="b3">μον-όφθαλμος</b> (<b class="b3">μουν-</b>) <b class="b2">with a single eye, one-eyed</b> (Hdt., Plb., Str.), <b class="b3">ἑτερ-όφθαλμος</b> <b class="b2">bereft of one eye</b> (D., Arist.); also as 1. member, e.g. <b class="b3">ὀφθαλμ-ωρύχος</b> <b class="b2">digging out the eyes</b> (A.).<br />Derivatives: 1. <b class="b3">ὀφθαλμ-ίδιον</b> n. dimin. (Ar.); 2. <b class="b3">-ία</b>, Ion. <b class="b3">-ίη</b> f. <b class="b2">eye-disease</b> (s. Scheller Oxytonierung 42f.) with <b class="b3">-ιάω</b> <b class="b2">suffering from an eye-disease</b> (IA.), with <b class="b3">-ίασις</b> f. (Plu., H.); 3. <b class="b3">-ίας</b> m. name of a kind of eagle (Lyc.), also of a fish (Plaut.; because of the fixed glance, Strömberg Fischnamen 42); 4. <b class="b3">-ικός</b> <b class="b2">belonging to the eyes</b>, m. <b class="b2">eye-doctor</b> (Gal., Dsc.); 5. <b class="b3">-ηδόν</b> <b class="b2">like eyes</b> (gloss.). -- 6. Verbs <b class="b3">ὀφθαλμίζομαι</b> <b class="b2">to be inoculated</b> (Thphr.), <b class="b2">to suffer from ὀ-ία</b> (Plu.); with prep. <b class="b3">ἐν-ὀφθαλμ-ίζω</b> <b class="b2">to inoculate</b> (Thphr.), <b class="b3">-ίζομαι</b> pass. (Delos) with <b class="b3">-ισμός</b> (Thphr.); also <b class="b3">-ιάζομαι</b> (Plu.); <b class="b3">ἐξ-οφθαλμ-ιάζω</b> <b class="b2">to disregard, to disparage</b> (pap. IVp); <b class="b3">ἐπ-οφθαλμ-ίζω</b> (Pherecyd., Plu.), <b class="b3">-ιάω</b> (Plu., pap. IIIp), <b class="b3">-έω</b> (pap. IVp) <b class="b2">to ogle, to peep at</b>.<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]<br />Etymology: Understandably the word has been derived from the root <b class="b3">ὀπ-</b> [[see]]. Variants are Boeot. <b class="b3">ὄκταλλος</b>, Epid. Lac. <b class="b3">ὀπτίλ(λ)ος</b>. The group <b class="b3">κτ</b> : <b class="b3">πτ</b> : <b class="b3">φθ</b> ("mit altem <b class="b3">κτ</b> [but see below], analogischem <b class="b3">πτ</b> und expressivem <b class="b3">φθ</b>" (Frisk) [Schwyzer 299 bzw. Benveniste Origines 48]?) has been connected with the group <b class="b2">kṣ</b> in Skt. <b class="b2">ákṣi</b> [[eye]] Schwyzer 317 w. lit.). With the suppletive <b class="b2">n-</b>stem e.g. in gen. <b class="b2">akṣ-ṇ-ás</b> the <b class="b2">l-</b>stem in <b class="b3">ὀφθ-αλ-μός</b> would correspond (Specht 351n.1). "Die lautlichen Einzelheiten sind indessen nicht endgültig und eindeutig aufgeklärt" (Frisk). An IE laibo-velar before consonat became a labial, Lejeune Phonét. $ 42, so Frisks "mit altem <b class="b3">κτ</b>" is wrong. The rise of <b class="b3">-αλ(λ</b>)- cannot be explained from IE. The repeated attempts, to explain <b class="b3">ὀφθαλμός</b> as a compound, are all wrong (to <b class="b3">θάλαμος</b> Brugmann, s. Bq and WP. 1, 864). The variation cannot well be explained as IE, nor can the formation of <b class="b3">ὀφθαλμός</b>. <b class="b3">ὄκταλλος</b> has a Pre-Greek suffix, Beekes FS Kortlandt.; already Devel. 193); it continues a palatalized [[l]] (i.e. <b class="b2">*ly</b>, which was represented as a geminate). This leads to a PGr. reconstruction <b class="b2">*akʷt-aly-(m)-</b> (with <b class="b2">*a-</b> = [<b class="b3">ο</b>] before the labiovelar). Here the labiovelar could become a labial, but the labial element could also be ignored, which gave <b class="b3">ὀκτ-</b>. Aspiration was not phonemic in Pre-Greek, hence the variant <b class="b3">ὀφθ-</b> is unproblematic. In <b class="b3">ὀπτίλ(λ)ος</b> apparently the (second) <b class="b2">*a</b> became [[i]] through the following labialized consonant. The fact that PGr. <b class="b2">*akʷ-</b> strongly resembles IE <b class="b2">*h₃ekʷ-</b> is a mere coincidence, an accident that may be expected to occur here and there. -- Note the expressive geminate in <b class="b3">ὄκκον ὀφθαλμόν</b> H. (to Arm. [[akn]]? Meillet BSL 26, 15f.; s. also Lejeune Traité de phon. 72 n. 1); this word may well be of IE origin. -- For words derived from the IE root <b class="b3">ὀπ-</b> [[see]], s. [[ὄμμα]], [[ὄσσε]], [[ὄπωπα]]; cf. WP. 1, 169ff., Pok. 775ff., W.-Hofmann s. [[oculus]] etc.

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