δέρμα

Forms

δέρμᾰ (dérma) n (genitive δέρμᾰτος); third declension^[1] Delphic δάρμα (dárma), in an inscription of the 4th century BC.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek δέρω (dérō, “to skin, flay”) + -μα (-ma), so first “what is flayed off”, the stripped hide.^[1][4][3] The DGE describes it as a noun in *-mn̥ built on the root of the verb.^[2] The verb continues Proto-Hellenic *dérō, from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, split, flay”).^[1][3][5]

Cognate with Lithuanian dìrti (“to flay”), Russian деру (deru, “I tear”) and Proto-Germanic *teraną, the source of English tear.^[3][1]

Ancient writers explained it in other ways: Pseudo-Herodian took it from the verb “to skin”, Orion from τέρμα (térma, “boundary”), as if the skin were the body's limit, and Meletius also from δέω (déō, “to bind”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad it is the hide of a boar or a lion, the hide covering a shield, and also a man's skin; in the Odyssey it is used of skins made into bags.^[4][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word meant both the flayed hide of an animal, worn as a cloak or worked into leather goods and wineskins, and the living skin of a person.^[7][4] Herodotus uses it of human skin stripped off, and Aristophanes of the shell of a tortoise.^[4][7] In Attic comedy and oratory it appears in talk of flogging, as the slave's skin that pays for a fault.^[7][2]

The Hippocratic writers and Aristotle used it in anatomy, for the skin of particular parts of the body, the scalp and the outer layer of the skin.^[2] Theophrastus applied it to the skin of fruits and the outer coverings of seed-vessels.^[2][4] In the Septuagint it renders the hides of Exodus and the skin affected by leprosy in Leviticus, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is the goatskin worn by the persecuted.^[9][2][10]

Medieval Greek kept both the skin of the body and the raw hide of an animal.^[11] Modern Greek δέρμα (dérma) is the same word, used for the skin of people and animals and for leather.^[12][13] Through Modern Latin derma it gave English derma in 1706.^[14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the hide of a boar, a lion's skin worn as a cloak, the hide of a shield and a man's skin.^[4][15][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of human skin flayed from the body.^[4][2]
• 5th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of the shell of a tortoise.^[4][7]
• 4th century BC – A Delphic inscription has the dialect form δάρμα (dárma).^[2]
• 4th century BC – Theophrastus uses it of the skin of fruits.^[4]
• 3rd century BC – A papyrus of 257 BC mentions a goatskin.^[4][10]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for the skin of the body and for raw animal hide.^[11]
• 1706 – English borrows derma through Modern Latin.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The skin or hide of an animal, especially when stripped off; a hide made into a cloak, a shield covering, a bag or a wineskin.^[4][7]
2. The skin of a person.^[4][7][2]
3. The shell of a tortoise.^[4][7]
4. The skin of a fruit; the outer coat of a seed-vessel.^[4]
5. A wallet or scrip.^[4][16]

Word family

• δερμάτιον (dermátion)
• δερμάτινος (dermátinos)
• δερματικός (dermatikós)

Related words

• δέρω (dérō)
• English derma

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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
16. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)