βαστάζω

Forms

βαστάζω (bastázō) ^[1] Aeolic βαστάσδω.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[3] A connection with βαίνω (baínō, “to go”) has been proposed, but Beekes does not find it convincing.^[3][1] It is often compared with Late Latin bastum (“stick”) and Latin basterna (“litter”), and a Mediterranean origin has been suggested.^[4] Wiktionary considers it probably Pre-Greek.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Odyssey it means to lift up: a stone is heaved up with both hands, and a great bow is lifted.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Pindar used it figuratively, to exalt someone with praise, and the tragedians to bear, carry or hold in the hands, to touch or embrace, and to weigh something in the mind.^[5][2] It does not appear in Attic prose; the passive is first found in Polybius, who also used the verb for carrying off and stealing.^[5][2] In the New Testament it covers carrying physical loads and the cross, bearing others' burdens, enduring and putting up with, and carrying a child in the womb; in John it is used of carrying off and perhaps of pilfering.^[6][5][2]

Medieval Greek had the verb, remade as βαστώ on the aorist stem βαστασ-; it survives as Modern Greek βαστάζω (vastázo) and Modern Greek βαστώ (vastó).^[7][8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for lifting a stone and a bow.^[5][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for exalting with praise.^[5][2][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for carrying and for weighing a matter in the mind.^[5][2][4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for carrying off and stealing, and has the first passive forms.^[5][2][4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for carrying the cross and bearing burdens.^[6][2]
• Medieval Greek – The verb continues, with the new present βαστώ.^[7][8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek βαστάζω (vastázo) and Modern Greek βαστώ (vastó) continue it.^[8][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lift up, raise.^[5][2]
2. To exalt, glorify.^[5][2]
3. To bear, carry; to hold in the hands; in tragedy, to touch or embrace.^[5][2]
4. To weigh in the mind, consider.^[5][2]
5. To bear, endure, put up with.^[5][6][2]
6. To carry off, take away; to steal.^[5][2][6]
7. (New Testament) To carry (a child in the womb).^[2][6]

Word family

• βάσταγμα (bástagma)
• βασταγή (bastagḗ)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b 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 d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας