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Headword:
Abusson
Adler number: alpha,104
Translated headword: abyss
Vetting Status: high
Translation: [Meaning] that which not even a deep [
buqo/s] can contain; but Ionians pronounce
buqo/s as
busso/s.[1]
From which also
bussodomeu/ein ["to build in the deep"] appears to be said,[2] from the verb
du/nw ["I sink"] [meaning] I enter upon secretly, with a change [of initial consonant] [giving]
bu/w,
bu/sw,
be/busmai,
be/busai, [and the nouns]
buso/s and
a)bu/ssos [meaning] where no-one enters because of its depth.[3]
Aristophanes in
Frogs [writes]: "for immediately you will come to a huge lake, an absolute abyss."[4] And he also uses the word in the neuter: "they shall not make peace while the measureless [
a)/busson] silver is with the goddess on the Acropolis." For 1,000 talents were stored on the Acropolis.[5]
"Abyss" is what the Holy Scripture calls the watery substance. So since the land is surrounded on all sides by waters [and] by great and small seas,
David naturally called this [i.e., abyss] the earth's surrounding garment.[6] Also, "abyss calls to abyss", the same prophet says,[7] meaning figuratively military divisions and the excessive size of the multitude.[8]
"I was under water as [if] in a kind of abyss."[9]
So an abyss [is] a great amount of water.
Abusson: hên oude buthos chôrêsai dunatai: Iônes de ton buthon busson phasin. hothen dokei legesthai kai bussodomeuein, para to dunô, to hupeiserchomai, kata tropên buô, busô, bebusmai, bebusai, busos kai abussos, hou oudeis eiserchetai dia to bathos. Aristophanês Batrachois: euthus gar epi limnên megalên hêxeis panu abusson. kai oudeterôs phêsin ho autos: heôs an êi to argurion to abusson para têi theôi, ouk eirêneusousin. en gar têi akropolei chilia talanta apekeito. Abusson kalei tên hugran ousian hê theia graphê. epei oun hê gê pantachothen hudasi periechetai megalois kai mikrois pelagesin, eikotôs peribolaion autês eirêken ho Dabid. kai, abussos abusson epikaleitai, ho autos prophêtês phêsin: ta stratiôtika legôn tagmata kai tên tou plêthous huperbolên tropikôs. hôs en abussôi tini hupobruchios egenomên. Abussos oun hudatôn plêthos polu.
Notes:
See also
alpha 105.
[1] This comment on Ionian pronunciation comes from the scholiast on
Aristophanes,
Frogs 138, quoted later in the entry.
[2] In
Homer,
Odyssey, where
bussodomeu/w occurs most frequently, it has the sense "brood over."
[3] cf.
Etymologicum Magnum 4.44. These are principal parts of the verb
bu/w, which means "to stuff," followed by
buso/s, which does not exist according to LSJ. Probably this is a mistake for
busso/s, "depth of the sea" (cf.
beta 598,
busso/n). The Suda generally has little concern for the distinction between single and double consonants. The author thus seems to propose a very dubious etymology: that
a)-bussos literally means "unstuffable" -- i.e., unable to be entered. [Ms M (=
Marcianus 448) omits this sentence.]
[4]
Aristophanes,
Frogs 137-8 (web address 1).
[5] "Silver" [
a)rgu/rion] is a neuter noun in Greek, while lake [
li/mnh] in the previous sentence is feminine; the point is that the same form
a)/busson is used with both. The sentence quoted here is actually part of a scholion to
Aristophanes,
Lysistrata 173 (web address 2);
Aristophanes uses the phrase
to\ a)rgu/rion to\ a)/busson in that line itself.
[6]
Psalm 103:6
LXX. See again under
pi 1083.
[7]
Psalm 41:8
LXX.
[8] Referring to the continuation of
Psalm 41:8
LXX, "all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (KJV).
[9] From Theodoret's commentary (PG 80.1173) on
Psalm 41:8
LXX.
Web address 1,
Web address 2
Keywords: Christianity; comedy; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; economics; epic; geography; history; imagery; military affairs; proverbs; religion
Translated by: Elizabeth Vandiver on 21 November 1998@17:02:02.
Vetted by:
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