εἴργω

Forms

εἴργω (eírgō) ^[1] Ionic and Epic ἔργω, Epic ἐέργω, Attic εἵργω (in the sense “shut in”); Epic aorist ἐέργαθον.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁werǵ- (“to shut in, press”).^[4][5] Almost every Greek form goes back to the full grade ϝέργω (wérgō), with a prothetic vowel in Epic ἐέργω (eérgō); the only zero-grade form is the Cyprian aorist κατέϝοργον (katéworgon).^[4][5] Sommer explained the rough breathing of the Attic form εἵργω (heírgō) as spreading from forms with ⟨ρκτ⟩ and ⟨ρξ⟩.^[4]

There are no closely comparable verbs in other languages.^[4] An optative Avestan vərəziiąn (“they should fence in”) may be related, and Indo-Iranian has related nouns: Sanskrit वृजन (vṛjána, “enclosure”) and Sanskrit व्रज (vrajá, “fence, pen”).^[4][3] Lithuanian veržti (“to squeeze”) belongs rather to another root.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer the verb, usually as ἔργω or ἐέργω, means both to shut in and to keep out: a mother keeps a fly off her child, a man is caught in a river, and Circe's victims are penned like swine.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The CGL groups its senses as “shut out” and “shut in”; for the second, Attic used the aspirated form εἵργω, and Eustathius draws the same distinction.^[2][3] In the sense “shut out” it means to keep someone from a place, to debar from rights or honours, to ward off a weapon, and so to prevent or hinder.^[2][3] In the sense “shut in” it was used of shutting people up, especially in prison, as in Herodotus and the Attic orators.^[3]

The noun εἱρκτή (heirktḗ, “prison”) is formed from it, and Babiniotis dates it to the 5th century BC.^[7] It lives on in Modern Greek ειρκτή (eirktí), a learned word for a term of imprisonment.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of keeping a fly off a child and of a man caught in a river.^[3][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod advises keeping one's heart away from wrongdoing.^[3][2][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of keeping children from food and of shutting people in prison.^[3][2][9]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of shutting out an enemy and of being cut off from the sea.^[3][2][9]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of laws that exclude a person from a place.^[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shut out, keep out of a place.^[2][3]
2. To keep away from a person, thing or activity; to exclude, debar from rights or honours.^[2][3]
3. To keep off, ward off a weapon, harm or an enemy.^[2][3]
4. To shut in, confine; to pen animals; to shut up in prison.^[3][2]
5. (passive) To be fenced in or secured; in medicine, of discharges, to be retained.^[3]

Word family

• εἱρκτή (heirktḗ)
• ἀπείργω (apeírgō)
• κατείργω (kateírgō)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f 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
5. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge