διατρίβω

Forms

δῐᾰτρῑ́βω (diatrī́bō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through”) + τρίβω (trī́bō, “to rub”), literally “to rub through, wear away”.^[1][2] Beekes derives τρίβω (trī́bō) from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”), although no form outside Greek matches it exactly; the closest are forms such as Latin trītus (“rubbed, worn”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[4][5] In the Iliad it is used of crushing a healing root in the hands, of delaying (“let us not waste time”) and of thwarting someone's anger; in the Odyssey of the suitors consuming a household and of putting off a wedding.^[4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The concrete senses (to crush, to wear away resources) gave way to the use with time: “to wear away time”, so to spend it, and so to stay or pass one's time somewhere or in some occupation.^[4][6] Herodotus speaks of spending the summer;^[4] Aristophanes, the orators and Plato use the verb without an object, “to pass the time”, often in talk, but also “to waste time, delay”.^[4][6] In Hellenistic papyri it means “to reside”,^[4] and the New Testament uses it for staying in a place for a time.^[2]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad uses it of crushing a root and of delay; the Odyssey of consuming goods and putting off a wedding.^[4][6][5]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of squandering money.^[4][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with a period of time, “to spend the summer”.^[4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it intransitively for “to pass one's time”.^[4][6]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for “to reside”.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for staying in a place.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To rub hard, crush (a medicinal root).^[6][4]
2. To use up, squander money; to wear out resources or troops.^[6][4]
3. To spend a period of time; without object, to pass one's time, occupy oneself, stay somewhere.^[6][4][2]
4. To waste time, delay.^[6][4]
5. To put off an event; to thwart someone's anger.^[6][4]
6. (Hellenistic) To reside.^[4]

Word family

• διατριβή (diatribḗ)
• ἐνδιατρίβω (endiatrī́bō)

Related words

• τρίβω (trī́bō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ 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 p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge