Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Possible Greek relations, even if ruled out by Beekes as highly unlikely, are the verbal present form ἔθει (éthei), the participle ἔθων (éthōn, damaging, plaguing; pushing, tossing (?)) and the nouns ἔθρις (éthris, castrated ram), ἔθειρα (étheira, horses' hair, mane). The lemma could be an old lengthened grade of one of the underlying roots. Compare ὄθομαι (óthomai, to show consideration for others, fight shy of), only used with a negative particle, ὄθη (óthē, worry, care, fear, consideration) and νωθρός (nōthrós, sluggish, slothful).

Taking in account Avestan vādāiiōi (“he may push back”) and Sanskrit ávadhīt (“he killed”) as well as Hittite ḫuett-tta(ri) (“to draw, pull”), Beekes constructed a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂wedʰh₁-, whence an iterative *h₂wodʰh₁-éye-. Mark that also ἔθρις (éthris) seems to be cognate to Sanskrit वध्रि (vádhri, castrate), and thus to वध् (vadh, to kill, destroy [a man's ability to procreate]).

Others have proposed Sanskrit ऊहति (ūhati, push, thrust) as cognate.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ὠθέω (ōthéō)

  1. (transitive) to push

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Greek: ωθώ (othó)

Further reading

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