θνηισκω

θνήσκω

pres subj act 1st sg

θνήσκω

pres ind act 1st sg

Grammatical information: m.

Meaning: `death' (Il.).

Compounds: Compp., e. g. ἀ-θάνατος `immortal' (Il.), θανατη-φόρος `death-bringing' (A. ; - η- rhythmic and analog. conditioned, Schwyzer 438f.).

Derivatives: Adj.: θανάσιμος `bringing death, going to die' (IA; on the formation Arbenz Die Adj. auf - ιμος 17 and 70f.; rarely θανατήσιμος, Arbenz 78f.); also θανατώδης (Hp.), θανατόεις (S., E.), θανατήσιος (Afric.; after βιοτήσιος, βροτήσιος), θανατικός (D. S., Plu.), θανατηρός (Eust.); θανατούσια (sc. ἱερά) pl. `feast for the dead' (Luc.; after γερούσιος). Denomin. verbs: 1. θανατόω `kill, bring to death, sentence to death' (IA) with θανάτωσις; 2. θανατάω `like to die', also `be dying' (Pl.); 3. θανατιάω `id.' (Luc.). - The old perfect τέθνηκα `am dead', pl. τέθνᾰμεν, ptc. τεθνηώς, τεθνεώς, Aeol. inf. τεθνά̄κην, with the thematic root aorist ἔθανον `I died' (Il.), the fut. θανοῦμαι (Il.) and an added present θνηισκω (inscr.), θνήσκω (mss.), Aeol. θναισκω (Hdn. Gr. 2, 79); in prose mostly ἀπο-θνῄσκω; also with other prefixes, e. g. κατα-θνῄσκω, - θανεῖν, - τέθνηκα (all Il.); on the function of the prefix Schwyzer-Debrunner 268f., Hermann Gött. Nachr. 1943, 617f. Verbal adj. θνητός `mortal' (Il.). - From there θνήσιμος (only Arg. to S. OT 7) with θνησιμαῖον `cadaver' (LXX; Chantraine Formation 49, Mélanges Maspéro 221); in the same meaning also θνᾱσίδιον, θνησ(ε)ίδιον (Lesbos, Ael.; Schwyzer 270). Verbalsubst. θνῆσις `dying, mortality' (medic.); on εὑθνήσιμος `preparing a soft death' (A. Ag. 1294) from εὖ θνῄσκειν; cf. εὑθάνατος, - τέω, - σία; diff., hardly correct, Arbenz 78 u. 84.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [266] * dʰ(u)enh₂- `die'

Etymology: The form θαν- ( εῖν) and θάνα-(τος) θνᾱ-(τός) point to a form *dhnh₂-, *dhnh₂-e- beside *dhnh₂- before consonant. The comparison with Skt. aorist á-dhvanī-t `he disappeared' and the ptc. dhvān-tá- `dark' led to the reconstruction IE dhu̯enǝ-; the meaning `die' stems from a euphemism, cf. Chantraine Sprache 1, 146. See Pok. 266. But the -u̯- is not quite certain.

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