βάρβιτος

Forms

βάρβῐτος (bárbitos) m or f (genitive βαρβῐ́του); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of the variant forms βάρμιτος (bármitos), βάρμος (bármos) and βάρωμος (bárōmos), with the alternation of /b/ and /m/, and because of the suffix -ιτ-.^[2][3] He also calls it a foreign word, perhaps Phrygian, referring to Strabo,^[3] and Wiktionary and Triantafyllidis give a Phrygian origin.^[1][4] Grošelj and Furnée connect it with φόρμιγξ (phórminx, “lyre”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Sappho and Anacreon, as the name of a stringed instrument like the lyre but lower in pitch.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The CGL describes it as a bowl lyre with long arms.^[6] Pindar made Terpander its inventor, while Neanthes credited Anacreon.^[5] It appears in Bacchylides, Euripides and Aristophanes, and Aristotle names it beside the πηκτίς (pēktís).^[5][6] The gender varies: usually masculine, it is feminine in the Anacreontea and neuter in Simonides and later writers.^[5] It passed into Latin as barbitos.^[7] Modern Greek uses βάρβιτος (várvitos) as a learned word.^[4]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho mentions the instrument.^[5]
• 6th century BC – Anacreon mentions it.^[5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar names Terpander as its inventor.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in the Cyclops and the Alcestis.^[8][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle lists it with the πηκτίς (pēktís) in the Politics.^[5][8]
• 3rd century BC – Theocritus mentions it.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The barbitos, a stringed instrument with long arms, related to the lyre and lower in pitch.^[6][5]
2. (poetic) A lyre in general.^[6]

Related words

• Latin barbitos

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux