Etymologically
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δέρκομαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /dér.ko.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈðer.ko.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈðer.ko.me/[1]

Forms

δέρκομαι (dérkomai) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *dérkomai, from Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (“to see, look at”).[1][2][3] The perfect δέδορκα (dédorka, “I see”) has the same formation as the perfect of Sanskrit दृश् (dṛś, “to see”), and the aorist ἔδρακον (édrakon) also has a Sanskrit match.[2][1] Indo-Iranian has a different present, related to σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), so the present δέρκομαι is probably a Greek innovation, on which the future and the passive aorist were also built.[2][4] Other cognates are Old English torht (“bright”) and Albanian dritë (“light”).[2]

The DGE gives the Mycenaean names Mycenaean Greek da-ra-ko and Mycenaean Greek de-ke-se-u.[5] The zero grade is seen in δράκων (drákōn, “serpent”), and Beekes also compares δορκάς (dorkás, “gazelle”).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to see or look upon, and in the phrase “while I live and look upon the earth” to have sight as one of the living.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb stayed poetic: Homer, Pindar, Bacchylides, the tragedians and Hellenistic poets use it, and Sophocles never uses the aorist ἔδρακον.[8][7] Besides “to see”, it meant to have a certain look: to glance meltingly in Ibycus, to glare fiercely, or, with an accusative, to look fire.[8] In Pindar the light of fame is said to gleam.[8] To see the light was to be alive, and Euripides uses seeing darkness of being dead or blind.[8] The perfect δέδορκα with present sense is found in later prose too, in Aristotle and Lucian.[7]

Derivatives include δέργμα (dérgma, “glance”) in Aeschylus.[2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of seeing and of being alive.[6][9]
  • 6th century BC – Ibycus uses it of a melting glance.[8]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of fame that gleams.[8]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses “to see darkness” of being dead or blind.[8]
  • 2nd century AD – Lucian uses the perfect δέδορκα in prose.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To look at, see, behold.[7][8][6]
  2. To look, gaze in some direction.[8]
  3. To have a certain look: to glare, stare; with an accusative, to look fire or war.[8][7]
  4. To have the power of sight; to see the light, be alive.[8][6]
  5. (figurative) To gleam, shine, of fame.[8]

Word family

  • δέργμα (dérgma)

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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  4. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  5. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b c d e f 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 g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux