μέταλλον: Difference between revisions

|etymtx=Grammatical information: n.<br />Meaning: [[mine]], [[quarry]] (Hdt., Th., X., Att. inscr.), late also [[mineral]], [[metal]] (Nonn., AP, backformation from <b class="b3">μεταλλεύω</b>).<br />Compounds: As 1. member in <b class="b3">μεταλλ-ουργός</b> [[miner]] with <b class="b3">-έω</b>, <b class="b3">-εῖον</b> (D.S., Dsc.).<br />Derivatives: 1. <b class="b3">μεταλλεῖα</b> n. pl. [[minerals]], [[metals]] (Pl. Lg. 678 d), substantiv. of <b class="b3">*μεταλλεῖος</b> [[belonging to a mine]]. 2. <b class="b3">μεταλλικός</b> [[belonging to the mines]] (D., Arist.). 3. <b class="b3">μεταλλεύς</b> m. [[miner]] (Lys., Pl. Lg., Att. inscr.; Boßhardt 60f.); from there, or from <b class="b3">μέταλλον</b>, 4. <b class="b3">μεταλλεύω</b> <b class="b2">be miner, work in the mines, dig up from quarries</b> (Pl., LXX, Arist.) with <b class="b3">μεταλλ-εία</b> (Pl., Str.), <b class="b3">-ευσις</b> (Ph. Bel.) [[mining]], <b class="b3">-ευτής</b> = <b class="b3">μεταλλεύς</b> (Str.; Fraenkel Nom. ag. 2, 63 f.), <b class="b3">-ευτικός</b> <b class="b2">belonging to mining</b> (Pl. Lg., Arist., pap.). 5. <b class="b3">μεταλλίζομαι</b> [[be condemned to the mines]] (Cod. Just.). 6. <b class="b3">μεταλλῖτις γῆ τις</b> H. (Redard 108). -- On itself stands <b class="b3">μεταλλάω</b> [[investigate]], [[inquire]], [[examine]] (Il., late prose), cf. below.<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]<br />Etymology: Technical term for mining and as such suspect to be a loan. The attempt to explain <b class="b3">μέταλλον</b> from <b class="b3">μεταλλάω</b> as backformation (Eichhorn, De graecae linguae nominibus deriv. retrogr. conformatis. Diss. Göttingen 1912, S. 47 f.; rejected by Kretschmer Glotta 6, 299, but accepted by id. Glotta 32, 1 n. 1), does not help, as for the verb no convincing etymology has been found; the explanation from <b class="b3">μετ</b>' <b class="b3">ἄλλα</b>, prop. "(inquire) after other (things)", e.g. Buttmann Lexilogus 1, 139 f. (with Eust.), Kretschmer l.c., is hardly convincing. Much more probable is, to see in the denominative <b class="b3">μεταλλάω</b> an orig. tecnical term, which was by ep. poets used in metaph. sense, but further came out of use. -- For foreign origin a. o. Debrunner Eberts Reallex. 4: 2,525, Krahe Die Antike 15, 181, Kretschmer Glotta 31, 13; on Pre-Greek <b class="b3">-αλλ-</b> Beekes, FS Kortlandt. Vain IE a. Sem. interpretations in Bq. -- Lat. LW [loanword] [[metallum]] [[mining]], [[metal]], from where NHG [[Metall]] etc.; on further derivv. in western and eastern languages Maidhof Glotta 10, 14 f.