βραχίων

Forms

βρᾰχῑ́ων (brakhī́ōn) m (genitive βρᾰχῑ́ονος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is traditionally explained as an old comparative, formed from Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) + -ίων (-íōn), literally “the shorter one”, because the upper arm is shorter than the forearm.^[1][2][3] The explanation goes back to Pollux, who says that the upper arm is so called because it is shorter than the πῆχυς (pêkhus, “forearm”).^[4][5][6] Seiler raised well-founded objections to it, and Ruijgh saw instead the suffix of κυλλοποδίων (kullopodíōn) and Ὑπερίων (Huperī́ōn).^[5][4][6] Van Beek adds that such comparatives with a long vowel are missing from Homer, where this word already has one, and that the upper arm is in fact the longer part, although some ancient writers measured the forearm to the tip of the middle finger and the word may first have named the upper part of an animal's leg.^[7] He notes that its Homeric scansion may point to an epic syllabic *r̥, but finds the etymology too uncertain to rely on.^[7]

βραχύς (brakhús) itself goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mr̥ǵʰú- (“short”), and is cognate with Latin brevis, Avestan mərəzu- (“short”) and Old High German murg (“short”).^[5][8] Van Beek and NIL also compare Tocharian B märkwace (“thigh”), which may come from the same root.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning the arm: in the Iliad a warrior is struck on the arm with a spear and the spear is pulled out of the top of the arm.^[9][6] In the Odyssey the stout arms of Odysseus are bared for a fight.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose it often means the arm as a whole, as in Herodotus, but the medical writers and Plato use it for the upper arm, as opposed to the forearm, the πῆχυς (pêkhus), and the Hippocratic treatise on fractures uses it for the bone of the upper arm, the humerus.^[6][2] Empedocles, by contrast, sets it against the shoulder, so that it means the forearm.^[6] Aristotle uses it for the foreleg of an animal.^[6] Euripides already uses the arms as an image of youthful strength.^[6][11]

In the Septuagint the arm, raised or outstretched, is the image of God's power, and the New Testament keeps that use.^[12][6][11] Latin borrowed the word as Latin bracchium, from which Welsh braich and other words come.^[4][13][5] Through the Latinized form it gave English learned compounds in brachio-.^[14]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it as Byzantine Greek βραχίονας (brakhíonas), for the arm, and once for a rock.^[15] Modern Greek βραχίονας (vrachíonas) is a learned word for the upper arm or the arm, and for anything arm-shaped, such as the arm of a record player or of a harbour.^[16]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the arm.^[9][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the arm, and the Hippocratic writers for the upper arm and its bone.^[6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses the arms as an image of youthful strength.^[6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts the bones of the upper arm with those of the forearm.^[6][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the foreleg of an animal.^[6]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux explains the word as meaning that the upper arm is shorter than the forearm.^[4][17]
• 1503 – A vernacular text uses the form βραχιόνας (brakhiónas) for the arm.^[15]
• Modern Greek – The word lives on as the learned βραχίονας (vrachíonas), the upper arm.^[16][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The arm as a whole.^[6][9]
2. The upper arm, as opposed to the forearm, and in anatomy the humerus.^[6][2][4]
3. The forearm, as opposed to the shoulder.^[6]
4. The foreleg of an animal.^[6]
5. (figurative) Strength; in the Septuagint and the New Testament, the power of God.^[6][12][11]

Word family

• βραχιόνιον (brakhiónion)

Related words

• βραχύς (brakhús)
• Latin bracchium
• English brachio-

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c 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
12. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
13. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
16. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
17. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram