δρομάς

Forms

δρομᾰ́ς (dromás) m or f (neuter δρομᾰ́); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek δρόμος (drómos, “running, race, course”), with the suffix -άς (-ás).^[2][1] Both belong to the aorist δραμεῖν (drameîn, “to run”), which serves as a past of τρέχω (trékhō).^[2][3]

The aorist continues Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to run”); outside Greek the best match is Sanskrit द्रमति (drámati, “runs”), known from the grammarians, with an intensive participle in the sense “running”.^[2][1]

Latin borrowed the word as Latin dromas, used of the camel, and formed from it dromedārius, which the Greek papyri borrowed back as δρομεδάριος (dromedários, “dromedary”).^[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the lyrics of Euripides, of a person running, as of a woman rushing out of her house in the Suppliants, and of women roaming wildly, such as a Naiad in the Hippolytus and Cassandra in the Trojan Women.^[5][6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is mostly poetic in the classical period: Sophocles uses it of a whirling wheel, Euripides of darting eyes and of the legs of a runner, and a lyric fragment of the frenzied votaries of Cybele.^[5][6][7] Aristotle applies it to migratory fish such as tunny.^[5][7] The comic poet Phrynichus uses it as a noun for a woman who runs about the streets, a prostitute, and Hesychius glosses it as a courtesan.^[5][7][9]

From the Hellenistic period the phrase δρομὰς κάμηλος, “running camel”, named the dromedary in Diodorus, Strabo, Josephus and Plutarch.^[5][6][7] Latin took it over, and Modern Greek δρομάδα (dromáda) means the dromedary and also a long-legged black-and-white bird.^[2][10][1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of running and of wildly roaming women.^[5][6][8]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a whirling wheel, and the comic poet Phrynichus of a streetwalker.^[5][6][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of migratory fish.^[5][7]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses δρομὰς κάμηλος for the dromedary.^[5][7]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a courtesan.^[9]
• Modern Greek – δρομάδα (dromáda) names the dromedary and a bird.^[10][1]

Meanings

Adjective

1. running, racing, swift: of people, animals and their limbs.^[5][6]
2. Wildly roaming, frantic: of Cassandra, Bacchants, a Naiad, the votaries of Cybele.^[5][6]
3. Of things: whirling (a wheel), darting (eyes).^[6][5]
4. Of fish: migratory.^[5][7]
5. In δρομὰς κάμηλος: the dromedary.^[5][6][7]

Noun

1. (comedy) A woman who runs the streets, a prostitute.^[5][7][9]

Related words

• δρόμος (drómos)
• δραμεῖν (drameîn)
• δρομεδάριος (dromedários)
• Latin dromas
• Latin dromedārius

Usage notes

Hesychius may also record it as the name of a dance, but the reading is doubtful.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
10. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος