δάμνημι

Forms

δάμνημῐ (dámnēmi) ^[1] Aeolic δάμνᾱμι.^[2][3] Mycenaean Greek da-ma-o-te, a participle read as damahontes, “those who will break in (draught animals) to the yoke”.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dm̥-né-h₂-ti, a present formed with a nasal infix from the root Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, subdue”).^[1][2][6] The present matches Old Irish damnaim (“to bind, tame (horses)”) exactly, from *dm-n-eh₂-mi.^[2][3] The same root, in other grades, gives the aorist δαμάσαι (damásai), whose expected ⟨*δεμα-⟩ was remade as ⟨δαμα-⟩, and the zero grade of ἀδμής (admḗs) and the passive aorist ⟨δμηθῆναι⟩.^[2] Chantraine adds, following Benveniste, that the root has nothing to do with the noun for “house”, Proto-Indo-European *domo-.^[3]

Cognate with Sanskrit दाम्यति (dāmyati), Latin domō (“to tame”) and Hittite damašš- (“to force, urge”).^[1][2][5] Agent nouns such as πανδαμάτωρ (pandamátōr) and Latin domitor may be parallel formations made separately in each language.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, where the verb means to keep in order or control: in the Iliad Hera is held in check with words, and in the middle voice desire is said to overpower all the immortals.^[7][8] Homer uses it above all of overcoming and killing in battle, and of breaking in horses.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Homeric poems and later epic, lyric and tragedy used it for taming animals, bringing people under control, mastering passions, taking a woman and, most often, overpowering or killing an enemy.^[9][8] In the passive it meant to be conquered or struck down, and its perfect to be in subjection to a god or a man.^[9] Archaic poets used it of poverty, which “subdues” a good man or a people.^[8]

Prose preferred δαμάζω (damázō), a present built on the aorist stem δαμασ-.^[3][10] It survives in Modern Greek δαμάζω (damázo), a learned form of the ancient verb.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of controlling Hera with words and, in the middle voice, of desire overpowering the gods.^[7][8]
• before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony says that Eros overpowers the mind.^[8][5]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus writes that poverty subdues a people.^[8][5]
• 6th century BC – Theognis says the same of a good man.^[8][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it, in the middle and passive, in his Prometheus and Suppliants.^[8][5]
• 3rd century AD – Quintus Smyrnaeus still uses the middle in epic verse.^[8][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tame or break in (horses and other animals); in the passive, of horses, to be broken in.^[9][8]
2. To bring under control, subdue, make subject (people), especially of the gods.^[9][7]
3. To master or curb (one's anger or other feelings); of desire or love, to overpower someone.^[9][8]
4. To take (a woman) against her will; in the passive, to be taken by a man or a god.^[9][8]
5. To conquer, overpower or rout (an enemy); in the passive, to be conquered.^[9][8]
6. To strike down or kill.^[9]

Word family

• δαμάζω (damázō)
• ἀδμής (admḗs)
• ἄδμητος (ádmētos)
• πανδαμάτωρ (pandamátōr)
• ἱππόδαμος (hippódamos)

Related words

• Latin domō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki