κένταυρος

Forms

κένταυρος (kéntauros) m (genitive κενταύρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] The word is the common noun of the name Κένταυρος (Kéntauros), first a savage tribe of Thessaly.^[1][4]

One proposal sees in it the verb κεντέω (kentéō, “to goad, prick”) and the noun ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”), with reference to bull-fighting or to herding: Wiktionary mentions it, and Mandoulides accepts it.^[1][5] Others keep the first part but see in the second αὔρα (aúrā, “breeze”), or a word for “water” also sought in ἄναυρος (ánauros, “torrent”), or a supposed word for “horse”; Πάπυρος calls these guesses, which do not rule out a non-Indo-European origin.^[2] Beekes rejects the word for “water” on which one of them rests, since its Indo-European root had no laryngeal and could not give /au/ in Greek.^[6]

The name has often been compared with Sanskrit गन्धर्व (gandharvá), the name of a mythical being, but Wiktionary notes that the link would require a borrowing from a substrate or heavy remodelling, and Πάπυρος finds it, like a comparison with Latin februus (“purifying”), untenable.^[1][2]

The Etymologicum Magnum derived the name from Ixion, the father of the first Centaur, who “pricked the air” when he lay with a cloud made in the likeness of Hera.^[7]

Latin borrowed it as centaurus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer the Centaurs are a savage people living between Mount Pelion and Mount Ossa, set apart from ordinary men.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

From Pindar on, the Centaurs are monsters of double shape, half man and half horse, descended from Kentauros, son of Ixion and Nephele.^[4][9] They were placed in the forested mountains of Thessaly and appear as a violent band, assaulting women and fighting heroes and the Lapiths, with the friendly Chiron and Pholus as exceptions.^[9][8] The painter Zeuxis was the first to portray a female centaur.^[9] The comic proverb “we are not among the Centaurs” meant “we do not live in fairyland”.^[4]

By the 4th century BC the word also named the constellation Centaurus, and Aristotle uses the centaur as an example of an image seen in dreams.^[4][9] Hesychius records it for a brigand and for a pederast, from the brutal sensuality ascribed to the Centaurs, and the comic poet Theopompus used it for the genitals.^[4]

English centaur came through Latin in the late 14th century.^[3] Modern Greek κένταυρος (kéntavros) keeps the mythological creature and the constellation.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad and the Odyssey name the Centaurs as a savage Thessalian people.^[4][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar describes them as half man and half horse.^[4][9][11]
• 5th century BC – Teleclides uses the proverb about not living among the Centaurs.^[4][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Theopompus the comic poet uses it for the genitals.^[4][11]
• 4th century BC – Eudoxus names the constellation Centaurus.^[4][11]
• 12th century AD – The Etymologicum Magnum explains the name from Ixion's story.^[7]
• Late 14th century – English borrows centaur from Latin.^[3]
• Modern Greek – κένταυρος (kéntavros) names the mythical creature and the constellation.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. In Homer, one of the Centaurs, a savage people of Thessaly.^[4][8]
2. A centaur, a monster half man and half horse.^[4][8][9]
3. The constellation Centaurus.^[4][9][2]
4. (Hesychius) A brigand; a pederast.^[4]
5. (comedy) The genitals.^[4][12]

Word family

• ἱπποκένταυρος (hippokéntauros)

Related words

• Latin centaurus
• English centaur

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
6. ^ 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 Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli