Etymologically
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ζεύγνυμι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /zděu̯.ɡnyː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈzeβ.ɣny.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈzev.ɣny.mi/[1]

Forms

ζεύγνῡμῐ (zeúgnūmi) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *yewg- (“to yoke, harness”), formed as a present in ⟨-νυ-⟩.[1][2][3] Like δείκνυμι (deíknumi), the Greek present has the full grade of the root, while the other languages make the present with a nasal infix: Sanskrit युनक्ति (yunákti, “yokes”), Latin iungō (“to join”) and Lithuanian jungti (“to yoke, join”).[3][4][2] Most other Greek forms also have the full grade, such as the future ζεύξω (zeúxō) and the aorist ἔζευξα (ézeuxa); the zero grade is found only in the passive aorist ἐζύγην (ezúgēn) and in the nouns in ⟨-ζυγη⟩.[3][4]

The noun ζυγόν (zugón, “yoke”) belongs to the same root, as does iugum (“yoke”).[5][6] Beekes separates ζεύγλη (zeúglē) “yoke-strap” from iugulum (“throat”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it, mostly in the aorist active, for harnessing horses to a chariot.[6][5] Only once does he use it in the wider sense “to join”: long planks “well joined” (Iliad 18.276).[6]

Semantic evolution

Pindar and the tragedians use the passive for being “yoked” to fate or to necessity.[6] The verb also meant to join in marriage, of the bride and of the parents who give her away.[6] Herodotus uses it for bridging a river or a strait, and Aeschylus speaks of the strait of Helle “yoked” with machines (Persians 722).[6] The derivative ζεῦγμα (zeûgma) also meant a bridge of boats.[3] Hesiod and Thucydides use it for fitting ships with cross-benches.[6] In Attic prose the simple verb is rare.[6]

Later senses include pairing gladiators, in Arrian's Epictetus, and joining issue at law, in an inscription from Ephesus.[6] The New Testament has it as a variant reading for the joining of husband and wife (Mark 10:9).[7] The perfect active ἔζευχα is late, first in Philostratus.[3][8] In Medieval Greek the verb was remade as ζεύω or ζεύγω, on the stem of the aorist, and Modern Greek ζεύω (zévo) still means “to harness” animals to a plough or a cart.[9][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – It is used for harnessing horses, and once for joining planks.[6][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the passive for being yoked to fate;[6][11] Aeschylus uses it for bridging the Hellespont.[6][11]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for bridging rivers;[6][11] Euripides uses it for giving a daughter in marriage.[6][11]
  • 1st century BC – An inscription from Ephesus uses the passive for lawsuits joined over a matter.[6]
  • 2nd century AD – Arrian uses it for pairing gladiators.[6][11]
  • 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus has the perfect active ἔζευχα.[3][11]
  • Modern Greek – It continues as ζεύω “to harness”.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To yoke, harness (horses, oxen, to a chariot or a wagon).[6][5]
  2. To bind fast, fasten.[6]
  3. (figurative, passive) To be yoked, be subjected (to fate, to necessity).[6]
  4. To join together (planks; the bones of a broken jaw, in medicine).[6]
  5. To join in marriage.[6][7]
  6. To bridge (a river or a strait); to build (a bridge).[6]
  7. To fit (ships) with cross-benches.[6]
  8. To pair, match (gladiators).[6]

Word family

  • ζεῦγμα (zeûgma)
  • ζεῦγος (zeûgos)
  • ζεῦξις (zeûxis)
  • ζευγίζω (zeugízō)
  • ζευκτός (zeuktós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge