κάμπος

κάμπος¹ sea monster

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /kám.pos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkam.pos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkam.pos/^[1]

Forms

κάμπος (kámpos) n (genitive κάμπεος or κάμπους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for the sea monster is from Ancient Greek κάμπη (kámpē, “sea monster”), made neuter perhaps after κῆτος (kêtos, “sea monster”).^[2][3] Beekes considers that word Pre-Greek, following Furnée, who compared the Hesychian glosses κέμμορ (kémmor, “great sea monster”) and γεμπός (gempós): the variation of ⟨κ⟩ with ⟨γ⟩ and of ⟨α⟩ with ⟨ε⟩ is typical of Pre-Greek words.^[2][4][1] Frisk calls the origin unknown, and Chantraine asks whether the word is a borrowing or a special use of the homonymous word for “caterpillar”.^[3][5] It has been compared with ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only text with the neuter is Lycophron (414), who speaks of a man eaten “by the jaws of sea monsters”, βρωθεὶς καμπέων γνάθοις.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The scholia on Lycophron gloss it as “sea monsters”, and Pape and Bailly think of a large sea creature, perhaps a shark.^[7][8] The feminine κάμπη is a fabulous sea monster of Libya in Diodorus Siculus and Nonnus, and Hesychius quotes it from Epicharmus.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Lycophron uses the plural of sea monsters that devour a man.^[6][7]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus describes κάμπη (kámpē) as a sea monster of Libya.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sea monster; perhaps a large fish such as a shark.^[6][8][7]

Word family

• ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos)

κάμπος² field, racecourse

Etymology tree of κάμπος²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin campus

French champ

Italian campo

Romanian câmp

Spanish campo

Ancient Greek κάμπος (kámpos)

English campus

Romanian campus

German Kampf

From the same root · κάμπος²

Latin campāneus ← campus

Latin campestris ← campus

Latin campiō ← campus

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /kám.pos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkam.pos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkam.pos/^[1]

Forms

κάμπος (kámpos) m (genitive κάμπου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for the field is borrowed from Latin campus (“open plain, field”).^{[1][9][10][11]} The Latin word, meaning an open space, a field and a place of combat, is attested from the beginning of Latin and survives in all the Romance languages.^[9] Chantraine already sees the Latin word in Hesychius' gloss “racecourse”, which Hesychius calls Sicilian.^[5][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

According to Zervan the Greek word is known from the 1st century AD; in the GLAUx corpus it first appears in Strabo and in Plutarch's Life of Brutus.^[9][13]

Semantic evolution

Hesychius glosses it as a racecourse and ascribes it to the Sicels.^[12][6] In the 4th century Athanasius uses it for a plain, and an alchemical text for the bottom of a cup.^[14][11]

In medieval vernacular Greek, with the variants γάμπος (gámpos) and κάμβος (kámvos), it meant a plain, the open country, the open land round a building, the open sea, a camp and a battlefield.^[10][15] George Akropolites records that the Latins of Constantinople called their trading quarters by this name.^[9] It lives on as Modern Greek κάμπος (kámpos), “plain”; a second, learned use for the background of a picture, especially of a Byzantine icon, follows Italian campo or French champ.^[16][17][18]

Timeline

• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo has the word, according to the GLAUx corpus.^[13][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it in the Life of Brutus.^[13]
• 4th century AD – Athanasius uses it for a plain.^[14][11][10]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a racecourse and calls it a Sicel word.^[12][6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for a plain, the open country, the open sea, a camp and a battlefield.^[10][15]
• Modern Greek – κάμπος (kámpos) means a plain, and in a learned use the background of an icon.^[16][17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plain, an open field.^[14][10]
2. A racecourse (Sicilian, according to Hesychius).^[12][6]
3. (alchemy) The bottom of a cup.^[14]