Etymology of AGAQOS

From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Thu Nov 25 1999 - 12:18:05 EST


<x-flowed>Perhaps this question is a little off-topic, since it is not about Biblical
Greek Grammar. But I was wondering what is the current opinion concerning
the etymology of AGAQOS. The intermediate LS [1889] states that the
derivation of AGAQOS is uncertain, and "An Etymology of Latin and Greek" by
Charles S. Halsey [1893] (which is a great book, by the way) omits any
mention of AGAQOS. But the "Etymological Lexicon of Classical Greek" by
Edward Ross Wharton [1882] suggests that AGAQOS is related to the Gothic
"gods," which I've always taken to be related to the OE "god" from which we
get "good." Is an etymological connection between AGAQOS and "good" too
speculative?

Are etymological studies out of fashion today? Or are they merely suffering
the same fate as classical studies generally? Has there been any new Greek
etymological studies in English lately?

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com

"For the ancients, to mediate is to read a text and to learn it 'by heart'
in the fullest sense of this expression, that is, with one's whole being:
with the body, since the mouth pronounced it, with the memory which fixes
it, with the intelligence which understands its meaning, and with the will
which desires to put it into practice" (Jean Leclercq, "The Love of
Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture," 1961:17).

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