γωνία

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ɡɔː.ní.aː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ɣoˈni.a/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ɣoˈni.a/^[1]

Forms

γωνῐ́ᾱ (gōníā) f (genitive γωνῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), as a bend or joint; the connection is generally accepted.^[2][3][4][5] The long ω is a difficulty, because the paradigm of *ǵónu had no lengthened grade.^[2][3] Beekes explains it as the regular Doric outcome of *γονϝ-ία, since the mathematicians who used the word were Pythagoreans, writing in Doric.^[2][1] Hamp derived the ω from compounds like τρίγωνος (trígōnos).^[2][1][5] The long ā of Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu, “knee”) arose in Sanskrit and is irrelevant.^[2]

Ancient etymologists also derived it from the knee: Orion explains it as a joint that folds on itself.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus uses it for the corner of a building.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle and above all Euclid it is the geometrical angle, with the right, acute and obtuse angle; the Hippocratic writers already speak of a right angle.^[6][4][7] It also named the joiner's set-square (Plato, Plutarch) and the cutwater of a bridge (Diodorus).^[7][6] As the second member of compounds it gave -γωνος, as in τρίγωνος “triangular” and πολύγωνος (polúgōnos).^[2][3]

Plato's phrase “to whisper in a corner” made it a word for a secluded spot, and the Acts of the Apostles has “this was not done in a corner”.^[7][6][8] The Septuagint used it of a leader, and the New Testament has “the head of the corner”, the cornerstone, from the Psalms, and “the four corners of the earth”.^[7][8][2]

Medieval Greek also had the form γωνιά, which became the everyday Modern Greek word for a corner and the hearth; Modern Greek γωνία (gonía) is the learned word for an angle.^[9][10][5] It was borrowed into Persian for a set-square, and through Persian into Turkish.^[1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a corner of a building.^[6][7][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the geometrical angle, the set-square, and a secluded corner.^[7][6][4]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid defines plane and solid angles.^[7][4]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament: the cornerstone, and “not done in a corner”.^[8]
• 12th century – the medieval form γωνιά is recorded.^[9]
• Modern Greek – γωνιά “corner”, γωνία “angle”.^[10][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A corner of a building or room; a street corner.^[7][6]
2. (geometry) An angle.^[7][6]
3. A secluded place, a corner.^[7][6]
4. A set-square; a quadrant for measuring vertical angles.^[6][7]
5. A joint of the body.^[7][4]
6. The cutwater of a bridge.^[7][4]
7. (astronomy) One of the four quarters of the compass.^[7][4]
8. (Septuagint) A leader, chief.^[7][2]

Word family

• ἐγγώνιος (engṓnios)
• εὐγώνιος (eugṓnios)
• τετράγωνος (tetrágōnos)
• τρίγωνος (trígōnos)
• γώνιος (gṓnios)
• διαγώνιος (diagṓnios)
• ἑξάγωνος (hexágōnos)
• ἑπτάγωνος (heptágōnos)
• πεντάγωνος (pentágōnos)
• πολύγωνος (polúgōnos)
• γωνιώδης (gōniṓdēs)

Related words

• γόνυ (gónu)
• English pentagon
• English polygon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b 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