νησσίον

νησσίον, τό, Dim. of νῆσσα,

A PLond.ined. 2181 (vi/vii A.D.).

Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: Att. νῆττα, Boeot. (Ar. Ach. 875) νᾶσσα f. `duck' (IA.).

Derivatives: Diminutiva νηττάριον (Ar., Men.), νηττίον (Nicostr. Com.), νησσίον (pap. VI--VII^p).

Origin: IE [Indo-European]X [probably] [41] * h₂enh₂t- `duck'.

Etymology: Formation in - ια like μυῖα, κίσσα and many other animal-names (Chantraine Form. 98). Besides there is in Baltic, partly also in Slavic an i-stem, e.g. Lith. ántis, WRuss. úc f. (PSlav. *ǫtь) `duck', perhaps also in Skt. ātí-, ātī́ f. name of a waterbird (because of the unknown meaning not certain, s. Mayrhofer s.v.); in Slavic also an ū-stem, e.g. ORuss. uty, gen. utъve (PSlav. *ǫty). We must start from a t-stem, which was in diff. ways extended, but in Lat. anas, anat-is, gen. pl. anat(i)um, partly also in German., e.g. OHG anut (pl. enti i-st.), OWNo. pl. endr (sg. ǫnd second. ō-stem) still retained. On the complicated ablaut s. Schwyzer 361, Kuhn KZ 71, 146. -- Details w. lit. in WP. 1,60, Pok. 41 f., W.-Hofmann s. anas, Fraenkel s. ántis, Vasmer s. útka I. The form h2enHt- however, suggested by Lithuaninan and Latin, would give *ἀν- in Greek. No sulution has been found for this. Rix. HS 104(1991)186-192 suggested a dissimilation of h₂ - h₂ to s - h₂, with adaptation to the root of νήχ-ω `swim', which is only a remote possibility.

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