filu-faihs

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: `varicoloured, wrought in many colours (stitched, knitted, woven), manifold, versatile, cunning' (Il.).

Dialectal forms: Myc. pokironuka n. pl. `with many coloured onukes'.

Compounds: Many compp., e.g. ποικιλό-θρονος (s. θρόνα and Bolling AmJPh 79, 275ff.), πολυ-ποίκιλος `much variegated' (E.; cf. below).

Derivatives: 1. ποικιλ-ία f. `variegation, diversity, embroidering' (IA.); 2. - ίας m. fishname (Paus.; Strömberg Fischn. 25, Thompson Fishes s. v.), - ίς f. name of a bird that eats the lark's eggs (Arist.; Thompson Birds s. v.); 3. - εύς m. `broiderer, stitcher' (Alex. Com.). 4. Denominat.: a. - ίλλω, also w. δια-, κατα- a.o., `to make varicoloured, to work artfully etc.' with - ιλμα n. `varicoloured work, stitching, weave' (Il.; Wace AmJArch 1948, 51 f., 452; Porzig Satzinhalte 188), - ιλμός m. `elaboration, decoration' (Epicur., Plu.), - ιλσις f. `id.' (Pl.); - ιλτής m. `broiderer, stitcher' (Aeschin., Arist.), f. - ίλτρια (Str.), - ιλτικός `belonging to stitching' (LXX etc.); b. - ιλόω `to stitch' (A. Fr. 304 = 609 Mette); c. - ιλεύομαι `to be artful, versatile' (Vett. Val.).

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [794] *peiḱ- `stitch, paint'

Etymology: Formation like κό-ϊλος (: κόοι), ναυτ-ίλος (: ναύτης), ὀργ-ίλος (: ὀργή) etc.; like the two lastmentioned with secondary paroxytonesis (Schwyzer 379 a. 484f.); so from a noun of unknown stem (cf. Schwyzer 484 n. 5, also Specht Ursprung 121). To a basic word *ποῖκος agree several words of other languages: Skt. péśa- m. `ornament' (with peśalá- `ornamented, beautiful': ποικίλος), Av. paēsa- m. `leprosy', also `ornament' in zaranyō-paēsa-'with golden ornament' a.o., Lith. paĩšas m. `smut, dustspot'. With this formally identical a Germ. adj. for `motley', e.g. OHG OS fēh, Goth. filu-faihs `πολυποίκιλος'; prob. through secondary adjectivising like Av. paēsa- which also means `leprous'. The morphological identity of Goth. filu-faihs and Skt. puru-péśa- is accidental; the supposition (Porzig Gliederung 136), πολυ-ποίκιλος would be a cross of ποικίλος and *πολύ-ποικος (= puru-péśa-), is to be rejected, as the relatively late Gr. word may have been built after πολυ-δαίδαλος, which, orig. prob. a bahuvrihi, was reinterpreted as `very artfull' (s. δαίδαλος). -- IE *póiḱos m. belongs as nomen actionis to a verb `cut, stitch, scratch in, paint etc.' in Skt. piṃśáti `carve, cut, ornament', Slav., e.g. OCS pьsati `write' a. o.; IE *piḱ-; besides with final voiced cons. a.o. Lat. pingō `stitch with a needle, paint'. An old r-deriv. of the same verb is πικρός prop. `cutting in, stitching' (s. v.). Quite uncertain is the H.-gloss πεικόν πικρόν, πευκεδανόν; if correct, in formation comparable with λευκός. -- Further forms w. lit. in Bq (esp. on the meaning), WP. 2, 9f., Pok. 794f., W.-Hofmann s. pingō (very rich), Fraenkel s. paĩšas and piẽšti, Vasmer s. pisátь, Mayrhofer s. péśaḥ. -- (Quite uncertain πίγγαλος.)

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