Etymologically
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θώραξ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /tʰɔ̌ː.raːks/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈθo.raks/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈθo.raks/[1]

Forms

θώρᾱξ (thṓrāx) m (genitive θώρᾱκος); third declension[1] Mycenaean Greek to-ra-ke, nominative plural.[2][1][3] Epic and Ionic θώρηξ, Aeolic θόρραξ.[4][5]

Etymology

Beekes considers it most probably a Pre-Greek word, from Pre-Greek, a technical term with no etymology.[6][7] Two features point that way: a variant reading θύραξ (thúrax), following Furnée, since a Pre-Greek u was often rendered by Greek ⟨ω⟩, and the suffix ⟨-ᾱκ-⟩, very frequent in Pre-Greek.[6][7]

It is not related to Sanskrit धारक (dhāraka, “container”).[6][1] If it is a loanword, Latin lōrīca (“cuirass”) may be a parallel borrowing from the same source.[2][6][3] Chantraine notes that both the tablets and archaeology show that the cuirass existed in Mycenaean times.[2] The medical sense “trunk, chest” is probably secondary, from the armour.[6] An ancient etymologicon derived it from a Doric verb for feasting.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have the plural to-ra-ke.[2][3] In the Iliad it is the cuirass or corslet of bronze that protects a warrior's chest and back.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Alcaeus and Herodotus speak of linen corslets, and Herodotus of scale armour.[4][5] Herodotus also uses it of a horse's breastplate and, figuratively, of an outer wall that protects a city.[5]

From the Hippocratic writers on it is a medical word for the part of the body that the cuirass covers, the chest or trunk.[4][2] Plato and Aristotle use it so, and Aristotle also for the thorax of crustaceans.[4][2][5] The New Testament speaks of “the breastplate of righteousness” and “of faith”.[9]

The word passed into Latin thorax.[10] Modern Greek θώρακας (thórakas) is a learned word for the chest and for ancient body armour; its sense of armour plating on a ship or a gun follows French cuirasse.[11][3]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – The tablets have the plural to-ra-ke.[2][3]
  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a warrior's bronze corslet.[4][5]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus mentions corslets of new linen.[4][12]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for scale armour, a horse's breastplate and a city wall.[4][5][12]
  • 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for the trunk of the body.[4][2][12]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the thorax of crustaceans.[4][12]
  • New Testament – The New Testament speaks of the breastplate of righteousness.[9]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for the chest and for armour plating.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cuirass, corslet of metal or leather covering chest, back and shoulders; also of linen or chain mail.[4][5]
  2. A breastplate for a horse.[5]
  3. (figurative) A protecting outer wall of a city; in the New Testament, a breastplate of virtue.[5][9]
  4. (medicine) The part of the body covered by the cuirass, the chest, trunk.[4][5]
  5. The thorax of crustaceans.[4]
  6. The cast-off skin of a snake.[4]
  7. (medicine) A bandage for the chest.[4]

Word family

  • θωρακίζω (thōrākízō)
  • θωρακοποιός (thōrakopoiós)
  • θωρακικός (thōrākikós)
  • θωρηκτής (thōrēktḗs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  3. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge