βδέω

Forms

βδέω (bdéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *bzdḗō,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind”), an old Indo-European verb.^[2][3][1] The Greek verb must go back to a form *βζδέω (*bzdéō), with the voiced cluster later simplified.^[2] The DGE takes the root to be of onomatopoeic origin.^[4]

Cognate with Russian бздеть (bzdetʹ), Lithuanian bezdėti and Latin pēdō, from *pezdō.^[2][4] Beekes compares πέρδομαι (pérdomai, “to break wind loudly”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aristophanes' comedies, meaning to fart.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to comedy.^[2] Aristophanes also uses the middle for people farting on one another, and an internal object: someone who “farts not frankincense”.^[5][7] Late writers formed an aorist ἔβδευσα (ébdeusa).^[7][2] Medical writers used the present participle as the name of a household beetle or cockroach, “the farting one”, whose fat was a remedy.^[7] Derivatives include βδύλλω (bdúllō, “to break wind from fear”), and Beekes compares βδελυρός (bdelurós, “disgusting”) and βδελύσσομαι (bdelússomai, “to feel disgust”).^[2]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it in the Acharnians, the Knights, Peace and Wealth.^[6][7][4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen and the physician Archigenes use the participle as the name of a cockroach.^[7][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fart, break wind.^[7][5]
2. (middle) To fart on one another.^[5]
3. With an internal object, to give off something by farting.^[5][7]

Word family

• βδύλλω (bdúllō)

Related words

• πέρδομαι (pérdomai)
• βδελύσσομαι (bdelússomai)
• Latin pēdō

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 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
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press