ζώννυμι

Forms

ζώννῡμῐ (zṓnnūmi) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₃s- (“to gird”), with a Greek nasal present.^[2][3][1] The present ζώννυμι is a recent formation, made from the aorist stem, and has no match elsewhere; the verbal adjective ζωστός (zōstós) “girded”, however, corresponds exactly to Avestan yāsta- (“girded”) and the participle of Lithuanian júosti (“to gird”), from *yeh₃s-to-.^[2][4] A trace of an older athematic present may survive in a Thessalian gloss of Hesychius.^[2][4]

The nouns agree closely with Balto-Slavic: ζῶμα (zôma) “girdle” with Lithuanian juosmuõ, and ζώνη (zṓnē) with an Old Russian word for a belt.^[2][4] Wiktionary adds Latvian jôsta (“girdle”) and Albanian gjesh (“to gird”).^[1] The Byzantine grammarian Choeroboscus derived it from ζάω (záō) “to live”, because we gird ourselves where the body's heat is.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses the middle for girding oneself, especially for combat: two boxers gird themselves and step into the middle of the assembly in the Iliad.^[6][7] The active, to gird someone else, occurs only once in Homer, in the Odyssey, of a man girded by force.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The middle is the usual voice: athletes and warriors gird themselves, women gird up a tunic to the knee, workers gird themselves for labour.^[6] The active means to gird someone, to hug an opponent in wrestling, or, in later poetry, to encircle, as Ocean encircles the earth.^[6] The word is rare in Attic, even in compounds.^[6] In the Septuagint one girds someone with a belt, the Gospel of John has the active and Acts the middle.^[6][8]

Medieval Greek remade it as Modern Greek ζώνω (zóno) from the aorist stem, and Modern Greek uses that verb for wrapping something round a person or thing and for wearing a weapon at the waist.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the middle for girding oneself for battle or a fight.^[6][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the active of Athena girding someone.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Megara speaks of athletes girding themselves in the stadium.^[6]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles use it.^[8]
• 2nd century AD – Pausanias uses it for hugging an opponent in wrestling.^[6][11]
• Medieval Greek – The form ζώνω replaces it.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To gird someone, put a belt or girdle round them; in wrestling, to hug.^[6][12]
2. To encircle.^[6]
3. (middle) To gird oneself, especially for a fight, contest or work; to put on a girdle or armour.^[6][8]
4. (passive) To be fastened with girths.^[6]

Word family

• ζῶμα (zôma)
• ζώνη (zṓnē)
• ἀναζώννυμι (anazṓnnumi)
• διαζώννυμι (diazṓnnūmi)
• ἐνζώννυμι (enzṓnnumi)
• συζώννυμι (suzṓnnumi)
• ὑποζώννυμι (hupozṓnnumi)

Related words

• ζωστήρ (zōstḗr)
• ζωστός (zōstós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press