θύρα

Forms

θῠ́ρᾱ (thúrā) f (genitive θῠ́ρᾱς); first declension^[1] Ionic θύρη.^[2][3] Mycenaean Greek o-pi-tu-ra-jo may contain the word.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tʰurā,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- (“door”).^[4][1] Beekes reconstructs an original consonant stem *dʰur- from the Arcadian adverb θύρδα (thúrda, “outside”) (Hesychius), θύσθεν (thústhen) for θύραθεν (thúrathen) at Tegea and θύραζε (thúrāze, “out of doors”) from *θύρασδε (thúrasde).^[4] The root noun was often replaced by suffixed forms: the Greek noun is a stem in *-eh₂, which NIL reconstructs as *dʰur-ah₂-.^[4][5] Beside the zero grade, the root also appears in the full grades, with e and with o (*dʰwor-).^[4]

Cognate with Sanskrit द्वार् (dvā́r), Latin foris (“door; outside”), Old Armenian դուռն (duṙn), Old English duru and dor (whence English door), Old High German turi (whence German Tür), Lithuanian durys and Russian дверь (dverʹ).^[1][4]

Ancient writers derived it from θύω (thúō, “to rush”), as the opening through which one rushes out (Orion and the Etymologicum Magnum), or from θέω (théō, “to run”) and ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a door from Homer on, in the Iliad (24.317) and the Odyssey;^[3][2] the plural is often used of a pair of folding doors, or simply for one door.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine notes that θύρα is in principle distinct from πύλη (púlē), the gate of a city, as in Thucydides; only rarely, as in Plutarch, does it mean city gates.^[9][2] The doors of a king or a rich man were where clients, courtiers and petitioners waited, in Herodotus, Aristophanes, Plato and Xenophon;^[2][9] Plato speaks figuratively of the doors of poetry, and Theognis calls the tongue a door.^[2] Herodotus uses it of a trapdoor, Herodotus and Thucydides of door panels used as a barricade.^[2] The phrase “at the doors” meant close at hand, in Demosthenes and the New Testament.^[2]

In the New Testament the door is also a gateway to the kingdom of God and a figure for Jesus himself, and the door of faith is opened to the Gentiles.^[2][8] The ancient noun survived in medieval Greek, with dialect forms;^[10] Modern Greek θύρα (thýra) is a learned word taken from it.^[11][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a door, the plural for double doors.^[3][2]
• 6th century BC – Theognis calls the tongue a door.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a trapdoor and of the doors of the powerful.^[2][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of the doors of poetry.^[2][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle records the proverb about dropping the water-jar at the door.^[2][12]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the plural for the gates of a city.^[2][3][12]
• New Testament – The door becomes a figure for the way into the kingdom of God.^[2][8]
• Modern Greek – θύρα is a learned word.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A door, of a building, room, tent or wagon; in the plural, a pair of folding doors, or one door.^[2][3][8]
2. (plural) The gates of a city.^[2][3]
3. A trapdoor.^[2]
4. A door panel, used to build a barricade.^[2]
5. (plural) The doors of a king or great man, where petitioners wait;^[2] (figurative) the doors of poetry.^[2]
6. (New Testament) The entrance of a tomb; a gateway to the kingdom of God; a figure for Jesus.^[8][2]
7. (in phrases) “At the doors”, close at hand; on the threshold of a country.^[2]

Word family

• θύραθεν (thúrathen)
• θυρεός (thureós)
• θύρετρα (thúretra)
• θυρίς (thurís)
• θυρωρός (thurōrós)
• θυρίδιον (thurídion)
• παρακλαυσίθυρον (paraklausíthuron)

Related words

• Latin foris
• English door

Usage notes

Aristotle quotes the proverb “the water-jar at the door”, for failing on the point of reaching a goal.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e 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 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
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge