Etymologically
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κάπηλος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ká.pɛː.los/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈka.pi.los/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈka.pi.los/[1]

Forms

κάπηλος (kápēlos) m or f (genitive κᾰπήλου); second declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][3] Beekes notes that, as there is no etymology and the suffix occurs in Pre-Greek words, it may be Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.[2][4] The word is often compared with Latin caupō (“innkeeper”), which would then be a parallel borrowing from the same unknown source, and Furnée compares Hittite ḫappar (“purchase, price”).[2][3][1]

Chantraine thinks a derivation from κάπη (kápē, “crib, manger”), taken as “box”, not impossible.[3] Beekes finds it highly improbable.[2] Babiniotis also links it with this noun, through a sense “tavern”.[5] Ancient writers explained it from πηλός (pēlós), which the Ionians were said to use for wine: the Suda derives the feminine καπηλίς (kapēlís) from “spoiling the wine”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a fragment of Aeschylus, as an adjective meaning “cheating, knavish”.[7][5] Herodotus uses it for a retailer, a local trader as opposed to the importing merchant.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Attic the κάπηλος is the small local dealer, set against the ἔμπορος (émporos) who imports goods and against the producer who sells his own wares.[7][3] Lysias, Xenophon and Plato draw this distinction.[7][8][3] It was used especially of the tavern-keeper, and the word had a bad name: Herodotus applies it to Darius, Plato uses it of sophists who peddle learning, and Demosthenes speaks of a “dealer in petty roguery”.[7][8][3]

The Septuagint uses it for a retailer and a tavern keeper.[9] Papyri from the 3rd century BC on use it for tavern keepers.[7] Derivatives include the feminine καπηλίς, καπηλεῖον (kapēleîon), a shop and almost always a tavern, and the verb καπηλεύω (kapēleúō).[3][5]

It is still recorded in medieval vernacular Greek.[10] Modern Greek κάπηλος (kápilos) is a learned word for someone who exploits something for gain.[11][5]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – A fragment of Aeschylus uses it as an adjective, “knavish”.[7][5][12]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a retail dealer.[7][8][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for a tavern keeper and for a dealer in arms.[7][8][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato sets it against the importing merchant and the producer, and applies it to sophists.[7][8][12]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes calls an opponent a dealer in roguery.[7][8][12]
  • 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for tavern keepers.[7]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for an exploiter.[11][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A retailer, huckster, a local trader as opposed to the importing ἔμπορος (émporos); with a genitive, a dealer in something.[7][8]
  2. A tavern-keeper.[7][8][9]
  3. (figurative) A peddler of something bad, or of learning sold for gain.[7][8]

Adjective

  1. Like a petty trader; cheating, knavish.[7]

Word family

  • καπηλεία (kapēleía)
  • καπηλεῖον (kapēleîon)
  • καπηλεύω (kapēleúō)
  • καπηλικός (kapēlikós)
  • παλιγκάπηλος (palinkápēlos)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 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
  4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  10. ^ 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