βοσκή-ματα

Grammatical information: n. pl.

Meaning: `cattle, herd, flock' (Il.), `small cattle', sg. - ον mostly `sheep' (Att., Gort. etc.); also name of an unknown fish (Opp., Ael.; because of the similarity of the head, cf. Strömberg Fischn. 102).

Compounds: Compp., e.g. προβατο-γνώμων m. `knower of herds' (A.), πολυ-πρόβατος `rich of cattle, sheep' (Hdt., X.).

Derivatives: 1. Dimin. προβάτ-ιον n. (Att.). 2. Adj. προβάτ-ειος (Arist.), - ικός (LXX, N.T.) `belonging to sheep (small cattle)', - ώδης `sheep-like' (sp.). 3. - ών (- εών Hdn.), - ῶνος m. `sheepfold' (hell. inscr. a. pap.). 4. - ήματα πρόβατα H. (after κτήματα, βοσκή-ματα etc.; Chantraine Form. 178). 5. - εύς m. `shepherd' (title of a com. of Antiph.). 6. - εύω `to keep, tend cattle, sheep' (D. H., App.) with - ευτικός, - εύσιμος, - ευτής, - εία. 7. Plant-names: - ειον, - ειος, - αία (Ps.-Dsc.) "sheep-herb" (cf. Strömberg Pfl. 137). -- To πρόβειος, rhythmical shortening for προβάτειος (An. Ox. a.o.) Palmer Class Quart. 33,31ff.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [463] * gʷeh₂- `go'

Etymology: In the same sense as πρόβατα we find once in collective meaning the verbal abstract πρόβασις (β 75 κειμήλιά τε πρό-βασίν τε), which designates here the moving cattle as opposed to the life-less ("lying") property. The origin from προβαίνειν (thus already EM) is confirmed by it. Thus OIcel. ganganda fé "going cattle" = `living stock' beside liggjanda fé ' κειμήλια', Hitt. ii̯ant- `sheep' prop. "the going", ptc. of ii̯a- `go', Toch. A śemäl `small cattle', prop. vbaladj. of käm-, śäm- `come' (= βαίνειν). Typical for Greek is however the prefix προ-; so πρόβατα prop. "those going forward", a notion, which seems to require an other way of moving as opposite, but has a correspondence in Av. fra-čar- and Skt. pra-car- `move forward' (opposed to `remain motionless'); s. Benveniste BSL 45, 91 ff. with extensive treatment and criticism of diverging views (Lommel KZ 46, 46ff.; s. also Kretschmer Glotta 8, 269 f.). -- The plural πρόβατα is usu., esp. because of the dat. pl. πρόβασι (Hdn.) for the usual προβατοις (Hes.), considered as orig. consonant-stem πρόβατ-α, to which secondarily πρόβατον (Bq s.v., Schwyzer 499 with Risch 178, Benveniste l.c., Egli Heteroklisie 41 ff.); against this with good arguments Georgacas Glotta 36, 178 ff., who rightly points to other infinite active το-participles, e.g. στατός `standing' (s. ἵστημι). -- In the secondary sense of `sheep' πρόβατον has replaced the older ὄις.

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