Etymologically
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θεράπων

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /tʰe.rá.pɔːn/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /θeˈra.pon/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /θeˈra.pon/[1]

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)
  • 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