διάγραμμα

Forms

διάγραμμα (diágramma) n (genitive διαγράμματος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a result noun from Ancient Greek διαγράφω (diagráphō, “to mark out by lines”) with the suffix -μα (-ma),^[2][1] the verb being διά (diá, “through”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write, draw”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato and Xenophon use it for a figure marked out by lines, especially a geometrical figure.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle also uses it for a geometrical proposition.^[4][2] In music it became the scale or system of notes (Aristoxenus, Phanias), and Plutarch uses it of the tone of a political career and of an astrological chart.^[4][2][5] Strabo and Julian use it for a map.^[5][4]

In administration it was a list or register: Demosthenes uses it for an inventory of equipment, and in Athens the amount of war tax assigned to each person or group was called διάγραμμα, as the lexicographers explain.^[4][2][6][7] Inscriptions and papyri use it for royal ordinances, and Polybius and Plutarch use it for a Roman magistrate's edict.^[4][2] Hesychius glosses it as an ordinance or decree.^[8]

Latin borrowed it as diagramma, “a scale, a musical scale”;^[9][3] through French diagramme it gave English diagram in the 1610s.^[3] Modern Greek διάγραμμα (diágramma) is learned, with senses taken from French and English.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it for geometrical figures.^[4][2][5]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for an inventory, and Aristotle for a geometrical proposition.^[4][2][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristoxenus uses it for a system of musical notation.^[5]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for a register of taxable property and for royal ordinances.^[4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a Roman edict.^[4][2][5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a horoscope.^[4][2][5]
• 1610s – English takes diagram from French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A figure marked out by lines, a plan; especially a geometrical figure, a diagram.^[4][2]
2. A geometrical proposition.^[4][2]
3. (music) A scale or system of notes.^[4][2][5]
4. An astrological chart, a horoscope.^[4][2]
5. A map.^[4][5]
6. A list, register or inventory; at Athens, the assessment of each person's war tax.^[4][2][6]
7. An ordinance or regulation; a Roman magistrate's edict.^[4][2]

Related words

• Latin diagramma
• English diagram

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
7. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki