βάκτρον

Forms

βάκτρον (báktron) n (genitive βάκτρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an instrument noun in -τρον (-tron) on a stem of uncertain origin, which also gives βακτηρία (baktēría, “staff”).^[2][3][4] The two stand to each other as ἄροτρον (árotron) to ἀροτήρ (arotḗr).^[3][5] The stem is related to Latin baculum (“staff”) and to Old Irish bacc (“hook, crook”).^[3][2][4] Because of its a vowel, Beekes asks whether it is a European loanword.^[3] The links with Hesychius' βάκται (báktai, “strong”) and with βακόν (bakón) are doubtful.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus uses it in lyric passages for a staff: in the Agamemnon, of striking the ground with staffs.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word was poetic and not Attic: Aeschylus and Euripides use it only in lyric passages, Theocritus for the club of Heracles.^[6][4][5] Euripides has it for the stick of the old and the blind (“bring me my staff, child”, in the Phoenician Women), and for the ivy-wreathed thyrsus of Bacchus.^[7][2] Figuratively a person could be the staff of another: a Cypriot epitaph calls someone the one support of both parents.^[2][6] It gave the verb βακτρεύω (baktreúō) “to prop”.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the sceptre of kings and for a staff.^[6][7][2]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the stick of the old and the blind.^[7][2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for the club of Heracles.^[7][2]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – A Cypriot epitaph uses it figuratively for a person who supports both parents.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A staff, stick, cudgel.^[6][2]
2. A sceptre of a king.^[7]
3. A walking-stick, for the old, infirm or blind.^[7][2]
4. The club of Heracles; the thyrsus.^[7]
5. (figurative) A support, of a person.^[7][2]

Word family

• βακτρεύω (baktreúō)

Related words

• βακτηρία (baktēría)
• Latin baculum

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses a βάκτρον as “camel”.^[8] Beekes thinks, if the gloss is right, that it means “Bactrian”, as Bactrian camels were famous.^[8][3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)