Βετεσπιος

Grammatical information: m. f.

Meaning: `horse, mare' (Il.), collective f. `cavalry' (IA)

Dialectal forms: Myk. iqo, iqija `chariot'

Compounds: Very often in compp.: bahuvrihi ( λεύκ-ιππος), governing compp. ( ἱππό-δαμ-ος, ἱππ-ηλά-της), determin. compp. ( ἱππο-τοξότης); with transformed 2. member ( ἱππο-πόταμος, ἵππ-αγρος for ἵππος ποτάμιος, ἄγριος, Risch IF 59, 287; ἱππο-κορυστής, s. κόρυς); with metr. conditioned ἱππιο- for ἱππο- in ἱππιο-χαίτης, - χάρμης (ep.). As 1. member also augmentative, esp in plant-names ( ἱππο-λάπαθον a. o., Strömberg Pflanzennamen 30).

Derivatives: A. Substantives: diminut. ἱππάριον (X.), ἱππίσκος `(small) statue of a horse' (Samos IV<sup>a</sup>) etc., ἱππίδιον as fishname (Epich.; Strömberg Fischnamen 100). - ἱππότης m. `horse-, chariot-driver' (Il.; in Homer always ἱππότᾰ with voc. = nom.; see Risch Sprachgesch. und Wortbed. 389ff), f. ἱππότις (Nonn.); ἱππεύς `horse-driver, chariot-fighter' (Il.), `cavalrist' (Sapph., A., Hdt.), `knight' as social class (Hdt., Ar., Arist.); from there ἱππεύω, s. C.; also as name of a comet like ἱππίας (Plin., Apul.; Scherer Gestirnnamen 107); ἱππών `stable' (Att. inscr., X.); ἱππάκη `cheese of mare-milk' (Hp.), also plant-name (Strömberg Pflanzennamen 136; formation like ἐριθάκη, ἁλωνάκη a. o.); ἵππερος "horse-fever" (Ar., like ἴκτερος, ὕδερος); ἱπποσύνη `art of driving, cavalry' (Il.; Urs Wyss Die Wörter auf - σύνη 23 u. 49). - B. Adjectives: ἱππάς f. `belonging to a horse, status and census of the knights in Athens' (Hp., Arist.); ἵππειος `belonging to a horse' (Il.); ἵππιος `id.' (Alc., Pi., trag.), often as epithet of gods (Poseidon, Athena etc.); from there Ίππιών as month-name (Eretria); ἱππικός `id.' (IA; Chantraine Et. sur le vocab. gr. 141); ἱππώδης `horse-like' (X.). - C. Verbs: 1. ἱππάζομαι, also with ἀφ-, ἐφ-, καθ- a. o., `drive horses, serve as riding-horse' (Il.) with ἱππασία, ἱππάσιμος, ἱππαστήρ, - άστρια, ἱππαστής, - αστικός, ἵππασμα, ἱππασμός. 2. ἱππεύω `id.' (IA), prop. from ἱππεύς, but also referring to ἵππος (Schwyzer 732), also with prefix, e. g. ἀφ-, καθ-, παρ-, συν-; from there ἱππευτήρ, - τής, ἱππεία, ἵππευσις, ἵππευμα; details in Boßhardt Die Nom. auf - ευς 34f. - Further endless proper-names, both full- and short-names ( Ίππόλυτος, Ίππίας, Ι῝ππη etc.etc.). See E. Delebecque Le cheval dans l'Iliade. Paris 1951.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [301] *h₁eḱuos `horse'

Etymology: Inherited word for `horse', e. g. Skt. áśva-, Lat. equus, Venet. acc. ekvon, Celt., e. g. OIr. ech, Germ., e. g. OE eoh, OLith. ešva `mare', Toch. B yakwe, perh. also Thrac. PN Βετεσπιος, give IE *h₁eḱu̯os; further HLuw. aśuwa, Lyc. esbe. From this form we expect Gr. *ἔππος or *ἔκκος (s. Schwyzer 301). A form with geminate is indeed found in ἴκκος (EM 474, 12), Ἴκκος PN (Tarent., Epid.); s. Lejeune, Phonétique 72. (With ἴκκος: ἵππος cf. Pannonian PN Ecco, Eppo.) A problem is the ἰ-; one suggestion was that it is Mycenaean; Cf. W.-Hofmann s. equus, Schwyzer 351. The aspiration is also difficult. - There is no further explanation for the word (connection e.g. with ὠκύς cannot be demonstrated).

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