Thursday, November 10, 2011
Beech
H.C. Beeching, To My Totem, motto (from Vergil, Eclogues 1.1) plus lines 1-4:
The mistake of Pope and Cowper can be attributed to dictionaries, e.g. Clavis Homerica (Rotterdam: Leers, 1662) p. 184, which translated Greek φηγός into Latin as fagus, a mistake repeated in other dictionaries into the 19th century.
The same Clavis derived φηγός from φαγεῖν, "quia olim homines fructibus arboreis victitabant," i.e. "because once upon a time men used to feed on mast," an etymology often accepted by modern scholars, e.g. by the aptly-named Edward S. Forester, "Trees and Plants in Homer," Classical Review 50 (July 1936) 97-104 (at 98).
But most reputable etymologists today posit separate Proto-Indo-European roots for φηγός (from bhāgo- = beech tree) and φαγεῖν (from bhag- = divide, share, get a share, i.e. of food, hence eat).
From Proto-Indo-European bhāgo- (beech tree) we get not only English beech, but also book and the buck- in buckwheat.
From Proto-Indo-European bhag- (share, get a share, eat) are derived the English prefix phago-, the suffixes -phage, -phagia, -phagous, -phagy (all via Greek φαγεῖν, e.g. dysphagia = difficulty swallowing), and baksheesh (via Persian).
Hat tip: Eric Thomson, who paraphrases Richard Bentley—"It's a pretty tree, Mr. Pope, but you mustn't call it a 'beech'."
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"Sub tegmine fagi."One of the "sour critics" was Anonymous, who wrote in the Gentleman's Magazine 3 (June 1835) 566, footnote:
Thy name of old was great:
What though sour critics teach
The beech by the Skaian gate
Was not, alas, a beech...
The φηγὸς of Homer should not be translated the beech-tree, as Cowper and Pope have done. It is an oak, and we doubt whether the beech is to be found at all in the plains of Troy.See, e.g., Alexander Pope's translation of Iliad 6.237-241 (Pope's lines 296-301):
Meantime the guardian of the Trojan state,Liddell and Scott define Greek φηγός (transliteration phēgós) as Valonia oak (scientific name Quercus macrolepis). Lewis and Short define the cognate Latin word fagus as beech-tree (scientific name Fagus silvatica).
Great Hector, enter'd at the Scaean gate.
Beneath the beech-tree's consecrated shades,
The Trojan matrons and the Trojan maids
Around him flock'd, all press'd with pious care
For husbands, brothers, sons, engag'd in war.
Ἕκτωρ δ᾽ ὡς Σκαιάς τε πύλας καὶ φηγὸν ἵκανεν,
ἀμφ᾽ ἄρα μιν Τρώων ἄλοχοι θέον ἠδὲ θύγατρες
εἰρόμεναι παῖδάς τε κασιγνήτους τε ἔτας τε
καὶ πόσιας· ὃ δ᾽ ἔπειτα θεοῖς εὔχεσθαι ἀνώγει
πάσας ἑξείης· πολλῇσι δὲ κήδε᾽ ἐφῆπτο.
The mistake of Pope and Cowper can be attributed to dictionaries, e.g. Clavis Homerica (Rotterdam: Leers, 1662) p. 184, which translated Greek φηγός into Latin as fagus, a mistake repeated in other dictionaries into the 19th century.
The same Clavis derived φηγός from φαγεῖν, "quia olim homines fructibus arboreis victitabant," i.e. "because once upon a time men used to feed on mast," an etymology often accepted by modern scholars, e.g. by the aptly-named Edward S. Forester, "Trees and Plants in Homer," Classical Review 50 (July 1936) 97-104 (at 98).
But most reputable etymologists today posit separate Proto-Indo-European roots for φηγός (from bhāgo- = beech tree) and φαγεῖν (from bhag- = divide, share, get a share, i.e. of food, hence eat).
From Proto-Indo-European bhāgo- (beech tree) we get not only English beech, but also book and the buck- in buckwheat.
From Proto-Indo-European bhag- (share, get a share, eat) are derived the English prefix phago-, the suffixes -phage, -phagia, -phagous, -phagy (all via Greek φαγεῖν, e.g. dysphagia = difficulty swallowing), and baksheesh (via Persian).
Hat tip: Eric Thomson, who paraphrases Richard Bentley—"It's a pretty tree, Mr. Pope, but you mustn't call it a 'beech'."
Related posts:
Labels: etymology
