*segh- | Words related to *segh- | Online Etymology Dictionary

Words related to *segh-

ancient city, modern Antakya in Turkey, anciently the capital of Syria, founded c. 300 B.C.E. by Seleucus I Nictor and named for his father, Antiochus. The name, also borne by several Syrian kings and an eclectic philosopher, is a Latinized form of Greek Antiokhos, literally "resistant, holding out against," from anti "against" (see anti-) + ekhein "to have, hold;" in intransitive use, "be in a given state or condition" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold"). Related: Antiochian.

asseverate (v.)

"affirm positively or solemnly," 1791, from Latin asseveratus/adseveratus, past participle of asseverare/adseverare "to affirm, insist on, maintain," from ad "to" (see ad-) + severus "serious, grave, strict, austere," which is probably from PIE root *segh- "to have, hold," on the notion of "steadfastness, toughness." Related: Asseverated; asseverating.

asthenia (n.)

"weakness, debility," 1788, medical Latin, from Greek astheneia "want of strength, weakness, feebleness, sickness; a sickness, a disease," from asthenes "weak, without strength, feeble," from a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + sthenos "strength, power, ability, might," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE root *segh- "to have, hold," on the notion of "steadfastness, toughness."

asthenosphere (n.)

layer of the Earth's upper mantle, 1914, literally "sphere of weakness" (by comparison with the lithosphere), from Greek asthenes "weak" (see asthenia) + sphere.

cachectic (adj.)

"pertaining to or characteristic of a bad state of bodily health," 1630s, perhaps via French cachectique (16c.), from Latinized form of Greek kakhektikos "in a bad habit of body" (see cachexia). Cachectical is from 1620s.

cachexia (n.)

"bad general state of health," 1550s (from 1540s in Englished form cachexy), from Latinized form of Greek kakhexia "bad habits," from kakos "bad" (from PIE root *kakka- "to defecate") + -exia, related to exis "habit or state," from exein "to have, be in a condition," from PIE root *segh- "to hold." Related: cachexic.

calisthenics (n.)

also callisthenics, kind of light gymnastics, 1842, (the adjective calisthenic/callisthenic, of exercises, was in use by 1837), formed on model of French callisthenie, from Latinized combining form of Greek kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + sthenos "strength, power, ability, might" (perhaps from PIE root *segh- "to have, hold," on the notion of "steadfastness, toughness") + -ics.

"Of this at least I am certain, that none but a born romp and hoyden, or a girl accustomed [to] those new-fangled pulleyhauley exercises, the Calisthenics, is fitted for the boisterous evolutions of a sea-voyage." [Thomas Hood, "The Schoolmistress Abroad," New Monthly Magazine, 1842]

Originally, gymnastic exercises suitable for girls and meant to develop the figure and promote graceful movement. OED describes the word as "chiefly a term of young ladies' boarding-schools." A place for doing it was a calisthenium (1853). The proper Greek, if there was such a word in Greek, would have been *kallistheneia.

cathexis (n.)

"concentration or accumulation of mental energy," 1922, from Latinized form of Greek kathexis "holding, retention," from PIE root *segh- "to hold." Used by psychologists to render Freud's (Libido)besetzung.

entelechy (n.)

c. 1600, from Latinized form of Greek entelekheia "actuality," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + telei, dative of telos "perfection" (see telos) + ekhein "to have" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold"). In Aristotle, "the condition in which a potentiality has become an actuality."

eunuch (n.)

"castrated man," late 14c., eunuk, from Latin eunuchus, from Greek eunoukhos "castrated man," originally "guard of the bedchamber or harem," from euno-, combining form of eune "bed," a word of unknown origin, + -okhos, from stem of ekhein "to have, hold" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold").

Eunuches is he þat is i-gilded, and suche were somtyme i-made wardeynes of ladyes in Egipt. [Ranulph Higden’s "Polychronicon," mid-14c., John Trevisa's translation, 1380s]

Harem attendants in Oriental courts and under the Roman emperors were charged with important affairs of state. The Greek and Latin forms of the word were used in the sense "castrated man" in the Bible but also to translate Hebrew saris, which sometimes meant merely "palace official," in Septuagint and Vulgate, probably without an intended comment on the qualities of bureaucrats. Related: Eunuchal; eunuchry; eunuchize.

Words related to *segh-

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