Etymologically
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δρόμος

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /dró.mos/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈðro.mos/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈðro.mos/[1]

Forms

δρόμος (drómos) m (genitive δρόμου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a noun with /o/ grade from the root of δραμεῖν (drameîn, “to run”), the suppletive aorist of τρέχω (trékhō), from Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to run”).[2][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit द्रमति (drámati, “runs”) and Proto-Germanic *tradō (“track”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it mostly of horse races: “a course was stretched out for the horses” (Iliad 23.375); it is used of men racing too.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It was any running or quick movement: the charge of soldiers (Herodotus, Xenophon), flight, and a day's run as a measure of distance (Herodotus).[5][4] Euripides uses it for the course of the clouds, and the Platonic Axiochus for the courses of the sun and moon.[4] It was running as a sport, a race, and the racecourse itself; in Crete it named the gymnasium.[5][2]

Its derivative δρομάς (dromás) “running” was used for the camel;[2] Latin borrowed it as dromas, whence dromedārius “dromedary”, which returned to Greek papyri as δρομεδάριος.[2][6] Medieval Greek kept the word,[7] and Modern Greek δρόμος continues it; some of its modern senses are learned, and others are semantic loans from English way and French chemin.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a horse race.[4][3]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for races.[5][9][3]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a day's run and a charge.[4][5][3]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the course of the clouds.[4][3]
  • Modern Greek – δρόμος continues the ancient word.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Running; a charge.[5]
  2. A race.[4][5]
  3. A course, quick movement; a day's run.[4][5]
  4. A racecourse;[1] (Crete) a gymnasium.[1][2]
  5. A course, path.[1]

Word family

  • δολιχοδρόμος (dolikhodrómos)
  • ἔκδρομος (ékdromos)
  • ἱππόδρομος (hippódromos)
  • συνδρομή (sundromḗ)
  • ἀνάδρομος (anádromos)
  • ἁρματοδρομία (harmatodromíā)
  • ἡλιοδρόμος (hēliodrómos)
  • λαμπαδηδρομία (lampadēdromíā)
  • παλίνδρομος (palíndromos)

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. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux