γνώμων

Forms

γνώμων (gnṓmōn) m (genitive γνώμονος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to get to know”) + -μων (-mōn), “one who knows”.^[1][2][3] The verb continues Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to recognize, get to know”), the root of Latin nōscō (“to get to know”) and nōtus (“known”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Theognis, as a carpenter's set-square, in the phrase “by the set-square”, meaning exactly.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Aeschylus and Thucydides it means one who judges or interprets, an interpreter of prophecies or of a situation, and Xenophon calls the tongue the judge of tastes.^[2][4] At Athens the γνώμονες were inspectors of the sacred olive trees.^[2]

Herodotus uses it for the pointer of a sundial.^[2][4] In Euclid it is the geometrical gnomon, and in arithmetic the number added to a figurate number to make the next.^[2] Xenophon uses the plural for the teeth that show a horse's age, and later writers use it for any index or mark.^[2][4]

Latin borrowed it as gnōmōn,^[1] Saalfeld also derives the surveyor's instrument Latin groma from it, and Wiktionary allows that Latin norma may come from it through Etruscan.^[1][6] English gnomon is recorded from the 1540s for the shaft of a sundial, with its geometrical sense from the 1560s.^[7] The Modern Greek form is γνώμονας (gnómonas).^[1]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of a carpenter's set-square.^[4][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus' Agamemnon uses it of an interpreter of prophecies.^[2][4][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the pointer of a sundial.^[2][4][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of the teeth that mark a horse's age, and Lysias of the inspectors of the sacred olives.^[2][4][8]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid uses it of the geometrical gnomon.^[2][8]
• 1540s – English borrows it, through Latin, as gnomon.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who knows or examines; a judge, interpreter, with the genitive.^[2][4]
2. (Athens, plural) Inspectors of the sacred olive trees.^[2]
3. An expert witness or valuer.^[2]
4. A carpenter's set-square.^[2][4]
5. The pointer of a sundial, the gnomon.^[2][4]
6. (geometry, arithmetic) A gnomon; a number added to a figurate number to give the next.^[2]
7. A water clock.^[2]
8. An index or mark of something.^[2]
9. (plural) The teeth that show a horse's age.^[2][4]

Related words

• γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō)
• γνώμη (gnṓmē)
• Latin gnomon
• English gnomon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon 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 f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge