μεσαύλη

μεσ-αύλη, ἡ,

A = μέσαυλος 1, prob. in Möller Pap.Berl.Mus.3.13 (vi A.D.).

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: attribut. to θύρα (Ar., Lys., Plu.), also substantivized f. `the door that opens from the (outside) court, or from the living of the men, towards the back rooms' (opposite ἡ αὔλειος θύρα `the outside door'), in Vitr. (6, 7, 5) of a corresponding corridor;

Other forms: μέσαυλος (E., Ph. [v. l. - λιος, Vitr.), μέσσαυλος (- ον) `the inner court where the cattle were put for the night' (Hom., A. R. 3, 235); μεσαύλη f. `court inside the houses' (pap. VI^p; reading not quite certain).

Origin: GR [a formation built with Greek elements]

Etymology: Att. μέταυλος indicates as hypostasis either ἡ μετ' αὑλήν ( θύρα), i. e. the court behind the (outward) court, or ἡ μετ' αὑλῆς ( μετ' αὑλῶν θῦρα), i. e. the door in the middle of the court (between both courts); the meaning, which changed with the organisation of the house, cannot be settled without exact knowledge of the plan of the house, cf. the explanations by Wistrand Eranos 37, 16ff.; the etymological analysis is accordingly uncertain. On μεσο- for older μετα- Wackernagel Syntax 2. 242. -- Hom. μέσσαυλος seems however to stand for τὸ μέσον or (εν) μέσσῳ αὑλῆς and "what belongs to the middle of the court" or "what is in the middle of the court", i. e. `middle of the court, inner of the court', cf. Risch IF 59, 19f.; it should then be separated from μέταυλος. In A. R. 3, 235 ep. μέσσαυλος may have been influenced by the later μέσαυλος; late μεσαύλη followed the simplex.

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