δάκρυ

Forms

δᾰ́κρῠ (dákru) n (genitive δᾰ́κρῠος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru (“tear”), the old Indo-European word for “tear”.^[1][2][3] It is an old u-stem.^[4] The thematic δάκρυον (dákruon) was made from its plural δάκρυα (dákrua) and spread in Ionic-Attic.^[2][3]

Cognates with an initial /d/ are found in Armenian, Germanic and Celtic: Old Armenian արտաւսր (artawsr), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 (tagr), Old High German zahar and Old English tēar.^[2][5][1] The eastern languages have similar words without the initial consonant: Sanskrit अश्रु (áśru), Avestan asrū- and Lithuanian ašarà.^[2][5][3] No satisfactory explanation of the difference has been found, as Frisk says.^[2][5] Kortlandt proposes a compound Proto-Indo-European *dr̥ḱ-h₂ḱru (“eye-bitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see”) and a word for “bitter”, and the DGE also derives the eastern words from a similar but probably unrelated root.^[2][4] The Hittite word for tears, Hittite išḫaḫru, agrees only in its ending.^[2][5] Latin lacrima, older dacruma, is probably a borrowing from Greek.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it means a tear: in the Iliad warriors' cheeks are wet with tears, and “to shed a tear” means to weep.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a poetic word from the Iliad on, used mostly in the nominative and accusative singular and in the dative plural, which survives in prose; elsewhere δάκρυον (dákruon) takes its place.^[3][7][8] From “tear” it came to mean any drop, especially of resin: Euripides speaks of the “tear” of the pine, and Pindar of a drop of incense.^[7][8][3]

The Septuagint uses it for tears, and the New Testament has the dative plural in Luke.^[9][7] Medieval vernacular Greek had δάκρυ(ον), and the word lives on as δάκρυ (dákry), with the verb δακρύζω (dakrýzo, “to weep”) made from the aorist of δακρύω (dakrúō).^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for tears and weeping.^[6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for a drop of incense.^[7][8][4]
• 5th century BC – Euripides calls pine resin its “tear”.^[7][8][4]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses the dative plural in prose.^[7][4]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes also has the dative plural in prose.^[7][4]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses δάκρυ (dákry) and δάκρυον (dákryon).^[10]
• Modern Greek – It survives as δάκρυ (dákry).^[11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tear, a teardrop; collectively, tears, weeping.^[7][8][6]
2. A drop, especially of resin or incense.^[7][8]

Word family

• δακρυόεις (dakruóeis)
• δάκρυον (dákruon)
• δακρύω (dakrū́ō)

Related words

• Latin lacrima
• English tear

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. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας