θεράπων

Forms

θερᾰ́πων (therápōn) m (genitive θερᾰ́ποντος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[2][3] The derivative θεράπνη (therápnē) means “dwelling” as well as “servant” from Euripides on, which suggests a starting sense “house”, and so a collective “household servants”.^[2][4] The Laconian place name Therapnai can hardly be separated from it, and τέραμνον (téramnon, “chamber”) has the same meaning; the variation of ⟨τ⟩ and ⟨θ⟩, ⟨π⟩ and ⟨μ⟩, ⟨ε⟩ and ⟨α⟩, and the suffixes ⟨-απ-⟩ and ⟨-ν-⟩ point to Pre-Greek.^[3][2] Frisk already thought Pre-Greek origin of the whole group likely.^[4]

Beekes derives the noun for “servant” from an ⟨n⟩-stem and thinks the ⟨nt⟩-stem may be secondary.^[2] Van Brock compared Hittite tarpašša-, and Babiniotis finds that Hittite origin possible.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer the therapon is the companion of a warrior: his squire, who drives his chariot and helps him into his armour, as Patroclus and Automedon are to Achilles.^[6][7] Warriors are also called the therapontes of Ares.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

After Homer the word was used in poetry of a servant of the Muses or of a god, as Eros is of Aphrodite in Sappho and Plato.^[6][7] In Ionic and Attic it became an ordinary word for a servant or slave, as in Herodotus, Andocides and Lysias, and for the attendants of the Persian king and of tyrants.^[6][7] Thucydides uses it for the helot who accompanied a Spartan hoplite.^[7] In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is used of Moses, the servant of God.^[8]

Modern Greek θεράποντας (therápondas) is learned: it means a servant in antiquity, and also the doctor in charge of a patient, a sense shaped by θεραπεύω (therapévo) and by Italian (medico) curante.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a warrior's companion and charioteer.^[7][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony.^[10][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a servant and for the attendants of the Persian king.^[6][7][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for a helot attending a Spartan.^[7][11]
• New Testament – The Epistle to the Hebrews uses it of Moses.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It names a servant in antiquity and the doctor treating a patient.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attendant of a nobleman or king, a member of his retinue.^[7][12]
2. A warrior's companion-in-arms, squire or charioteer.^[7][6]
3. (figurative) A servant of Ares, a warrior.^[7]
4. A servant of a god or goddess.^[7][8]
5. A servant, slave.^[6][12]

Word family

• θεραπεύω (therapeúō)
• θεράπαινα (therápaina)
• θεραπεία (therapeíā)
• θεράπνη (therápnē)

Related words

• θέραψ (théraps)
• τέραμνον (téramnon)

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press