- οὑρανός
- οὑρανόςGrammatical information: m.Meaning: `heaven, sky' (Il.), also personified (Hes.).Other forms: Dor. Boeot. ὠρανός, Aeol. ὤρανος, ὄρανος (both prob. for ὄρρ-, s. below).Compounds: Often as 1. member, e.g. οὑρανο-μήκης `sky-high' (ε 239); in hypostases like ἐπ-ουράν-ιος `in the sky' (Il.).Derivatives: 1. Dimin. οὑρανίσκος m. `tent-roof, palate' (hell.), also name of a constellation (sch.; Scherer Gestirnnamen 193); 2. οὑράν-ιος `heavenly' (Pi., IA.), -ίς f. (AP); -ία f. name of one of the Muses (Hes.); 3. Οὑραν-ίωνες (θεοί) m. pl. `the heavenly (gods)' (Hom., Hes.), also `the Titans' (Ε 898; from Οὑρανός); -ίδης, Dor. -ίδᾱς `son of Ouranos', pl. `the Titans', also `the heavenly' (Hes., Pi.; Fraenkel Nom. ag. 2, 20); 4.Οὑραν-ιάς f. `game to worship Ourania' (Sparta); 5. οὑραν-ίζω or -ίζομαι `to go up high' (A.Fr. 766 M.), -ιάζω `to toss up high' (H. s. οὑρανίαν), -οῦσθαι `raised up into the sky, to become deified' with -ωσις (Eust.).Origin: XX [etym. unknown]Etymology: As the Aeol. variation ὠρ-, ὀρ- prob. represents a geminated ὀρρ- (Wackernagel Unt. 136 n. 1), the basis will have been *(Ϝ)ορσανός with accent as ὀρφανός and so perh. from a noun *(Ϝ)ορσό- = Skt. varṣá- n. m. `rain' (cf. Wackernagel KZ 29, 129 = Kl. Schr. 1,632). As e.g. ὄχανον, ξόανον can go back to ἔχω, ξέω, οὑρανός can as nom. ag. belong to a primary verb *Ϝερσ- = Skt. várṣati `rain'; it can however also be derived from the iterative οὑρέω (s. v.), like Indo-Ir. nouns in -ana are connected with second. verbs in -ayati ( = Gr. -έω, Wack.-Debrunner II: 2, 198ff.); meaning then "rainmaker" or metaph. "moistener, impregnator" (Wackernagel l.c.; cf. ἕρση). -- After Specht KZ 66, 199ff. (with Schulze), Fraenkel (s.Wb. s. viršùs) a.o. as "der zur Höhe in Beziehung stehende" to Skt. varṣman- m. n. `hight', Lith. viršùs `upper, highest seat', to which one connected also Ἔρρος ὁ Ζεύς H. (IE *u̯er-s- WP. 1, 267, Pok. 1151f.?); neither factually nor formally to be preferred. It has also been suggested that the word is of foreign, i.e. Pre-Greek, origin (DELG); note that -αν- is difficult to account for if the word were of IE origin. -- Against the old, often repeated but certainly wrong identification with the Skt. gods name Varuṇaḥ s. except Wackernagel l.c. also Thieme Mitra and Aryaman (Trans. Connecticut Acad. 41 [1957]) 60.Page in Frisk: 2,446-447
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.