κομμός περίεργος κόσμησις

Grammatical information: v.

Meaning: `beautify, embellish, adorn oneself' (Eup., Arist., Them.), ἐπι-κομμόομαι (Them.).

Derivatives: κόμμωμα `ornament' (Luc.), - ωσις `ornamentation' (Ath., H.); backformation κομμός περίεργος κόσμησις (Suid.); - ωτής `dresser' (Arr., Luc., Plu.) with κομμωτίζω ἐπιμελοῦμαι (Suid.), - ώτρια f. `servant-girl' (Ar., Plat.), - ώτριον `cleaning thing' (Ar.), - ωτικός `belonging to cleaning, polishing', - ωτική ( τέχνη) `art of cleaning' (Pl., hell.); κομμώ ἡ κοσμοῦσα τὸ ἕδος τῆς Άθηνᾶς ἱέρεια (AB).

Origin: XX [etym. unknown]

Etymology: As typical culture word κομμόω is suspected to be a fashionable innovation or loan. The similarity with κόσμος resp. κομψός led to attempts, to connect them: *κομμος dialectal for κόσμος (L. Meyer 2, 342); from *κομπ-μ-ος beside κομπ-σ-ος (= κομψός) as IE. variants (?; Brugmann IF 28, 359 A. 2); both not very convincing. Better was the idea of Solmsen, RhMus. 56, 501f., to find an innovation, from κομμώ, which would have hypocoristic gemination in *κομώ (: κομεῖν).

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