νηφ-άλ-ιος

νήφω Ch. 3, 134

Grammatical information: v.

Meaning: `be sober, fast', often metaph.

Other forms: Dor. νάφω, in the older language only present, mostly in ptc. (IA., Thgn., Archil.), aor. νῆψαι (J., 1. Ep. Pet. 4, 7).

Compounds: Also w. prefix, e.g. ἀνα-, ἐκ-.

Derivatives: 1. νήφων, - ονος in νήφονες νήφοντες H., dat. pl. νήφοσι (Thgn.); 2. νηφάλιος `without wine', of drink-offerings etc. (A.), later also of persons `fasten' (Ph., J.) with νηφαλιεύω `bring a drinkoffering without wine' (Poll.), νηφαλίζω in νηφαλισμένον ὕδατι, οὑκ οἴνῳ ἡγνισμένον H.; besides νηφαλιεύς surn. of Apollon (AP 9, 525, 14: - έα, metr. enlargement at verse-end, cf. Bosshardt 70); also νηφαλέος (Hdn. Gr., Ph.; after αὑαλέος etc., Debrunner IF 23, 17 f.) and νηφαντικός `sobering' (Pl. Phlb. 61, Porph.) as from *νηφαίνω; cf. e.g. σημαλέος: σημαντικός; on the suffixchange λ: ν in gen. s. e.g. Schwyzer 483, Benveniste Origines 45 f. -- Verbal noun νῆψις f. `soberness' (Plb., Str.).

Origin: IE [Indo-European]X [probably] [754] *?? `sober'

Etymology: Of νήφω, νάφω reminds Arm. nawt'i `sober' (Pedersen KZ 39, 349), but the phonetical, morphological and semantic interpretation of the Armenian form is unclear. Arm. nawt'i is prob. i- (i̯o-)deriv. of an unattested noun * nawt', which formally agrees to canawt `known' (to the aor. can-eay, pres. čanač̣em `recognise', s. γιγνώσκω) and like this must have a dental suffix; even the semantic relation is unclear, De Lamberterie, RPh. 72 (1998)134 (= DELG Suppl.); cf. Clackson 1994, 154ff; even the long a of Greek is doubted; so de L. prefers to connect Lat. ēbrius and reconstructs *n̥-h₁gʷʰon-. -- Given the preponderance of the nominal forms (including the ptc. νήφων) as also the meaning one might think that the relatively rare present νήφω (with secondary νῆψαι) was a denominative and to start from a noun *νᾱφ(ο-) v.t. (cf. for the type Schwyzer 722f.), to which there was an l \/ n-stem νηφ-άλ-ιος, νήφ-ον-. -- OHG nuoh-turn `sober', earlier conidered a testimony for an IE * nāgʷʰ-, remains far as LW [loanword] (Lat. nocturnus), s. WP. 2, 317 w. further lit.

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