κάμπτω

Forms

κᾰ́μπτω (kámptō) ^[1]

• Future κάμψω (kámpsō), aorist ἔκαμψα (ékampsa), aorist passive ἐκάμφθην (ekámphthēn), perfect passive participle κεκαμμένος (kekamménos).^[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes concludes that the stem of the verb is of Pre-Greek or European substrate origin, from Pre-Greek.^[3] It does not alternate in its vowel and has primary formations such as καμπή (kampḗ) “bend” and the present κάμπτω.^[3] The words compared in other languages are scattered and partly metaphorical, such as Lithuanian kam̃pas (“corner”), kum̃pas (“curved”) and Latin campus (“field”), and an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *kh₂mp- would have a suspicious structure.^[3] He reaches the same conclusion for γαμψός (gampsós) and γνάμπτω (gnámptō).^[3]

Others derive it from an Indo-European root: the LIV lists it under Proto-Indo-European *kamp- (“to bend, curve”), beside a Lithuanian verb meaning “to become bent”,^[4] and Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (“to bend”).^[1]

The Etymologicum Magnum derives it from γόνυ (gónu) “knee”, through a series of altered forms.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to bend: to bend wood into the rim of a wheel, to bend the knee in order to rest, and of knees that give way in exhaustion.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In the classical language it is used of turning a horse or chariot round the turning post of the racecourse, of sailors who double a headland (Herodotus, of the Pillars of Heracles), and of turning back.^[7][2] In music it describes the twists and turns of a melody, as the comic poet Pherecrates says of the musician Phrynis.^[7] Figuratively it means to bow down or humble someone, already in Pindar, and in the passive to submit.^[7][2] DatSemShift records it as an example of the polysemy “to bend” and “to subjugate”.^[8]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is used of bending the knee in worship, “who have not bowed the knee to Baal”.^[9] From καμπή (kampḗ) come Late Latin gamba (“leg”) and Albanian këmbë (“leg, foot”).^[3][3] Modern Greek κάμπτω (kámpto) is a learned word taken from the ancient verb.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of bending wood and the knees.^[6][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of humbling a man.^[7][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of turning round the post in a race.^[7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of sailing round a headland.^[7][12]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use the derivative κάμψις (kámpsis) “bending”.^[11][12]
• New Testament – Paul uses it of bending the knee in worship.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bend, curve; to make by bending.^[7][2][6]
2. To bend the knee: to sit and rest; in exhaustion; in worship.^[6][2][9]
3. To turn round the turning post; of sailors, to double a headland; to turn back.^[7][2]
4. (music) To make turns in a melody.^[7]
5. (figurative) To bow down, humble; passive, to be bowed down, to submit.^[7][2]

Word family

• ἄκαμπτος (ákamptos)
• ἀνακάμπτω (anakámptō)
• ἀποκάμπτω (apokámptō)
• ἐγκάμπτω (enkámptō)
• ἐπικαμπής (epikampḗs)
• ἐπικάμπτω (epikámptō)
• εὐκαμπής (eukampḗs)
• καμπτήρ (kamptḗr)
• καμπτός (kamptós)
• κάμψις (kámpsis)
• κατακάμπτω (katakámptō)
• περικάμπτω (perikámptō)

Related words

• καμπή (kampḗ)
• καμπύλος (kampúlos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Zalizniak, Anna A., et al. (2024), Database of Semantic Shifts (DatSemShift), Moscow: Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, https://datsemshift.ru
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. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge