γραμμή

Forms

γρᾰμμή (grammḗ) f (genitive γρᾰμμῆς); first declension^[1] Doric γραμμά.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “to scratch, draw, write”), with the suffix -μη (-mē), before which the last consonant of the stem became /m/.^[1][4][5] Beekes traces the verb, through a zero grade *gr̥bʰ-, to Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, which is also found in Old English ceorfan (“to cut, carve”) and Old Church Slavonic жрѣбии (žrěbii, “lot, allotment”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Pindar, for the line of a racecourse, the start or finish.^[4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The line of the racecourse gave a figure of speech: Euripides speaks of coming near the end of life's course, and Aristophanes of stepping up to the line.^[4][3][8] The word was used for the line on a board game, whence the proverb in Theocritus “to move the piece from the line”, that is to try one's last chance, and for the line in a tug-of-war.^[4][3]

From Plato and the Pythagoreans on it is above all the line of geometry and the line traced by a teacher for children learning to write,^[4] Aristotle calls the straight line the most beautiful.^[4][3][2] Zonaras gives the geometers' definition, a length without breadth.^[8] Callimachus uses it for the lines that divide the sky, and Galen for the white line of the belly.^[3][4]

The word lived on in medieval and Modern Greek, Modern Greek γραμμή (gramí), in many senses of “line”, with the derivative γραμμικός (grammikós), already Hellenistic.^[9][10][5]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the line of a racecourse.^[4][3]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of the end of life's course.^[4][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of geometrical lines and of the tug-of-war.^[4][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus has the board-game proverb, and Callimachus uses it of the lines that divide the sky.^[4][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of an outline and of a move in a board game.^[3][4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it of the white line of the belly.^[4]
• Modern Greek – γραμμή (gramí) keeps the general sense “line”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stroke or line drawn with a pen or other instrument; the line traced by a teacher for pupils.^[4][3]
2. (geometry) A line; ἡ ἐκτὸς γραμμή, the outline of an object.^[4][3][2]
3. (astronomy) A line dividing the sky or joining stars into constellations; in the plural, astronomy.^[3][4]
4. The starting line or finishing line of a racecourse; figuratively, the end of life.^[4][3]
5. A line on a board game; a move in such a game; the line in a tug-of-war.^[4][3]
6. (medicine) The linea alba.^[4]

Word family

• γραμμικός (grammikós)

Related words

• γράφω (gráphō)
• γράμμα (grámma)

Usage notes

Hesychius explains it as the line on the racecourse on which the runners stood.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)