Page 1 of 1

Onomatopoeia - formal designation?

Posted: June 28th, 2012, 1:05 am
by NathanSmith
I ran across ψιθυρίζω (whisper) in Sirach and instantly thouguht, "this must be an onomatopoeia." I then read the LSJ entry and it does not say one thing or another about this (unless I missed something). This is not particularly surprising since such a characterization of a word is tangential to the task of a lexicon.

But that leads me to wonder - are there formal etymologic criteria for determining onomatopeia, or is it just "you know it when you hear it"? Anyone know a good list of examples in Greek?

Do people agree that ψιθυρίζω sounds like an onomatopoeia?

Re: Onomatopoeia - formal designation?

Posted: June 28th, 2012, 2:44 am
by David Lim
NathanSmith wrote:I ran across ψιθυρίζω (whisper) in Sirach and instantly thouguht, "this must be an onomatopoeia." I then read the LSJ entry and it does not say one thing or another about this (unless I missed something). This is not particularly surprising since such a characterization of a word is tangential to the task of a lexicon.

But that leads me to wonder - are there formal etymologic criteria for determining onomatopeia, or is it just "you know it when you hear it"? Anyone know a good list of examples in Greek?

Do people agree that ψιθυρίζω sounds like an onomatopoeia?
Any such criteria will probably be highly subjective. In any case, Strabo mentioned a few (κελαρύζειν καὶ κλαγγὴ δὲ καὶ ψόφος καὶ βοὴ καὶ κρότος) (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... g=original). Middle-Liddel says that "ψιθυριζω" is from "ψιθυρος" which in turn is "Perh. formed from the sound." (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/mor ... s-contents).

Re: Onomatopoeia - formal designation?

Posted: June 28th, 2012, 7:02 am
by Ken M. Penner
NathanSmith wrote:Anyone know a good list of examples in Greek?
In the prophets I've been encountering συρίζω "hiss, whistle" quite often.

Re: Onomatopoeia - formal designation?

Posted: June 28th, 2012, 2:00 pm
by Jonathan Robie
NathanSmith wrote:Do people agree that ψιθυρίζω sounds like an onomatopoeia?
Yes, but that's very subjective. In English, "tissue" and "bless you" both sound like someone sneezing, but I don't think that explains their derivation. I would not call these onomatopoeia.

Re: Onomatopoeia - formal designation?

Posted: June 28th, 2012, 4:07 pm
by Stephen Carlson
I've always wondered if πτύω was onomatopoeic.