δεκάς

Forms

δεκᾰ́ς (dekás) f (genitive δεκᾰ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek δέκα (déka, “ten”) + -άς (-ás, “collective suffix”), like δυάς (duás), τριάς (triás) and μυριάς (muriás).^[1][2] Wiktionary compares the collective use of a dental suffix in the Balto-Slavic words for “ten”, Proto-Slavic *desętь and Lithuanian dešimt.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad and the Odyssey, where it means a group of ten men.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

From a group of ten people it was extended to a squad of ten soldiers in Xenophon, and to ten ships in Aeschylus.^[5][4] Euripides used it loosely of a set of people of the same kind, without a number in mind.^[5][4] Callimachus used it of ten years, a decade, and Aristotle of the number ten itself.^[5][3][4] At Athens “the company of Lycus” was a name for bribed jurors, and later critics called the canon of ten Attic orators “the Attic decade”.^[3][4]

Late Latin borrowed it as decas, the source of decade through French; in English it first meant a set of ten parts, such as the books of Livy's history, and only from the 1590s a period of ten years.^[6] Modern Greek continues it as δεκάδα (dekáda), built on the old accusative, for a set of ten.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a group of ten men.^[3][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a squadron of ten ships.^[3][4]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a set of people of one kind.^[5][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the number ten.^[5][4]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it for a decade of years.^[5][3][4]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian calls the ten Attic orators “the Attic decade”.^[3][4]
• 1590s – English decade takes the sense “ten years”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of ten, a company of ten people.^[3][5]
2. (military) A squad of ten soldiers.^[5][4]
3. A set of ten things, such as ten ships.^[3][4]
4. A group or set of people of one kind, without a precise number.^[5][4]
5. A decade, a period of ten years.^[5][3]
6. The number ten.^[5]

Word family

• δεκαδάρχης (dekadárkhēs)

Related words

• δέκα (déka)
• Latin decas
• English decade

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας