homo Aristophaneus

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰeh₂-“to shine”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂er-“to be suitable, fit; to fix, put together”
3. Ancient Greek · derived fromἈρῐστοφᾰ́νειος“of Aristophanes”
4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰéǵʰōm“earth; human”
5. Latin · learned borrowing fromhomō Aristophanēus
6. English todayhomo Aristophaneus

PIE word *dʰéǵʰōm Learned borrowing from Latin homō Aristophanēus (literally “Aristophanean man”), not attested in Latin works: homō (“human being, person”) + Aristophanēus (“of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Aristophanes or his works”), possibly influenced by French homo aristophaneus (1951) and German homo aristophaneus (1959) which are attested earlier than the English term. Homō is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth; human”); Aristophanēus is borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀρῐστοφᾰ́νειος (Arĭstophắneios, “of Aristophanes”), from Ᾰ̓ρῐστοφᾰ́νης (Ărĭstophắnēs) (from ᾰ̓́ρῐστος (ắrĭstos, “best”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to be suitable, fit; to fix, put together”)) + -φανής (-phanḗs, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘appearing, seeming’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”))) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘belonging or pertaining to’).

Words from the same roots