μεταλλ-εία

μεταλλ-εία, ἡ,

A searching for metals and the like , mining, Pl.Criti. 114e, Lg. 842d (pl.), Str.3.2.9, al.: in pl., concrete, mines, Id.3.2.3.

2 mining operations in a siege, D.S.16.74.

3 underground channel, Pl.Lg. 761c.

4 metaph.,

μεγαλόδωρος ἡ μ. τοῦ ἀληθοῦς Max.Tyr.17.2

.

Grammatical information: n.

Meaning: `mine, quarry' (Hdt., Th., X., Att. inscr.), late also `mineral, metal' (Nonn., AP, backformation from μεταλλεύω).

Compounds: As 1. member in μεταλλ-ουργός `miner' with - έω, - εῖον (D.S., Dsc.).

Derivatives: 1. μεταλλεῖα n. pl. `minerals, metals' (Pl. Lg. 678 d), substantiv. of *μεταλλεῖος `belonging to a mine'. 2. μεταλλικός `belonging to the mines' (D., Arist.). 3. μεταλλεύς m. `miner' (Lys., Pl. Lg., Att. inscr.; Boßhardt 60f.); from there, or from μέταλλον, 4. μεταλλεύω `be miner, work in the mines, dig up from quarries' (Pl., LXX, Arist.) with μεταλλ-εία (Pl., Str.), - ευσις (Ph. Bel.) `mining', - ευτής = μεταλλεύς (Str.; Fraenkel Nom. ag. 2, 63 f.), - ευτικός `belonging to mining' (Pl. Lg., Arist., pap.). 5. μεταλλίζομαι `be condemned to the mines' ( Cod. Just.). 6. μεταλλῖτις γῆ τις H. (Redard 108). -- On itself stands μεταλλάω `investigate, inquire, examine' (Il., late prose), cf. below.

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: Technical term for mining and as such suspect to be a loan. The attempt to explain μέταλλον from μεταλλάω 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 μετ' ἄλλα, 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 μεταλλάω 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 - αλλ- 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.

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