δώδεκα

Forms

δώδεκᾰ (dṓdeka) (ordinal δωδέκᾰτος, adverbial δωδεκᾰ́κῐς)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dwoHdeḱm̥ (“twelve”),^[2][1] a compound of the words for “two” and “ten”, δύο (dúo) and δέκα (déka).^[2][3][4] The same formation is Sanskrit द्वादश (dvā́daśa) and Latin duodecim.^[2][5][3]

The epic and Ionic δυώδεκα (duṓdeka) has a first part remade after δύω (dúō).^[3][5] Arcadian had δυόδεκο (duódeko), and δεκαδύο (dekadúo), found at Heraclea, became the usual form in late Greek.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is Homeric: the Iliad speaks of twelve sons, twelve horses, twelve cattle and twelve ships, sometimes with the longer form δυώδεκα (duṓdeka).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It was used of any group of twelve and of measures of time and distance: twelve days, years, feet or minas.^[3] Some twelves had religious and political weight: the twelve gods of Olympus, worshipped in many cities, with an altar of the twelve gods in the Athenian agora; the twelve labours of Heracles; the twelve parts of the zodiac.^[3] In the Septuagint it numbers the twelve tribes and nations, and in the New Testament οἱ δώδεκα, “the twelve”, are the disciples of Jesus.^[3][6]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the numeral, and Modern Greek has δώδεκα (dódeka), with derivatives such as δωδεκάδα (dodekáda), “dozen”.^[7][8][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it beside the longer δυώδεκα (duṓdeka).^[3][9]
• 6th century BC – An inscription from Samos declines the numeral in the genitive.^[3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar mentions the twelve gods.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides mentions the altar of the twelve gods in the agora of Athens.^[3]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Tegea has the Arcadian form δυόδεκο (duódeko).^[3]
• 1100–1669 – The Chronicle of Morea uses it.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The numeral continues unchanged.^[8][4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Twelve.^[3][6]
2. οἱ δώδεκα θεοί: the twelve gods of Olympus.^[3]
3. (New Testament) οἱ δώδεκα: the Twelve, Jesus' disciples.^[6]

Word family

• δωδέκατος (dōdékatos)
• δωδεκάς (dōdekás)

Related words

• δύο (dúo)
• δέκα (déka)
• Latin duodecim

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ a b 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