- σφαῖρα
- σφαῖραGrammatical information: f.Meaning: `sphere, ball, balls in a boxing-glove, globe' (Od.).Compounds: Compp., e.g. σφαιρο-ειδής `spherical' (IA.), ἐπί-σφαιρα n. pl. `leather coating of boxing-balls, boxing-gloves', also of the cover of the point of a sword (Plb., Plu.).Derivatives: 1. σφαιρ-ηδόν `like a ball, sphere' (Ν 204 a. o.) 2. -ίον dimin. (Pl. Ep., hell. a. late). 3. -εύς m. des. of young men in Sparta (after the boxing-gloves; Paus., inscr.; Bosshardt 75). 4. -ικός (Archyt., Arist. etc.; Chantraine Études 131 f.), -ειος (Arist.-comm.) `spherical'. 5. -ῖτις κυπάρισσος (Gal.; after the form of the fruits?, cf. Redard 77); *-ίτης (ἄρτος) in Lat. spaerīta m. kind of cake (Cato; Leumann Sprache 1, 206 = Kl. Schr. 173). 6. -ών, -ῶνος m. `round fishing-net' (Opp.), 7. -ίζω (ἀντι-, δια-, συν-) `to play at ball' (Att.; φαιρίδδειν σφαιρίζειν H.) with -ισις (Arist.), -ισμός (Artem.), -ισμα (Eust.) `ball-game', -ιστής `ball-player', -ιστικός `belonging to a ball-game', -ιστήριον `ball-court, -house', -ίστρα `id.' (hell. a. late). 8. -όομαι, -όω (ἀπο-, δια-, ἐν-) `to be round, to round off, to provide with a round edge' (X., Arist., hell. a. late) with -ωμα `rounded body' (Arist. a.o.), -ωσις `sphere-formation' (late), -ωτήρ, -ῆρος m. "rounded object", `knob, bulb or such' (Tab. Heracl., hell. pap.); s. Solmsen IF 31, 492ff.Origin: XX [etym. unknown]Etymology: Formation like πεῖρα, σπεῖρα, μοῖρα a.o. (s. vv. w. lit.). -- No agreement outside Greek. If prop. referring to the quick movement of a ball, one could connect σφαῖρα to σπαίρω a. cognates; s. v. w. further lit. Attempts, to explains the variation σπ- σφαῖρα σφ-, in Hiersche Ten. aspiratae 196 f. [improbable] Cf. also σφῦρα, σφυρόν and σπύραθοι, σπυράδες [Pre-Greek]. -- From σφαῖρα Syr. êspērō, Aethiop. ṣpīr (Schwyzer 159 a. 161), Arm. sp`er̄ (from where Georg. spero; Bailey Trans. Phil. Soc. 1945, 28). On σφαῖρα in gen. s. Hommel Gymn. 56, 201 ff., S. Mendner Das Ballspiel im Leben der Völker (Münster 1956) 77ff. -- Connection with σπαίρω is improbable.Page in Frisk: 2,826-827
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.