καθέδρα

Forms

κᾰθέδρᾱ (kathédrā) f (genitive κᾰθέδρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”).^[1][2][3] Πάπυρος notes that its link with καθέζομαι (kathézomai, “to sit down”) was still felt.^[4] The second element belongs to Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”), and Pokorny equates a Laconian word for “seat” recorded by Hesychius, ἑλλά (hellā́), with Latin sella (“chair”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ionic and Attic writers of the 5th century BC have it.^[3] Thucydides uses it for sitting idle, and a Hippocratic treatise for the part one sits on.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Xenophon calls a hare's form its καθέδρα, and Aristotle uses the word for a sitting posture.^[6] From the Hellenistic period it is a chair: Polybius uses it of rowers' seats, Strabo of the base of a column, and Lucian of a session.^[6][2] A cathedra was a chair with a back but no arms.^[8] In the Septuagint the first Psalm speaks of the seat of the scornful, and in the New Testament the scribes sit on “the chair of Moses”, the seat of the teacher.^[6][2] Inscriptions name a sophist's chair at Eleusis in the 3rd century AD and the imperial throne at Sparta.^[6] The sense of a bishop's throne is Hellenistic.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as cathedra.^[9][1] From Latin it gave English chair, through Old French, and cathedral, first in the phrase cathedral church, the church of a bishop's seat.^[10] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a seat and for an episcopal see.^[11] In Modern Greek καθέδρα (kathédra) is a learned word for a teacher's chair, and από καθέδρας “from the chair”, of speaking with unquestioned authority, translates New Latin ex cathedra.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for sitting idle, and a Hippocratic treatise for the buttocks.^[6][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for a hare's form.^[6][13]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a sitting posture.^[6][13]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for rowers' seats.^[6][2][13]
• 2nd century AD – An inscription from Sparta uses it for the imperial throne.^[6]
• 3rd century AD – An inscription from Eleusis names a sophist “in the chair”.^[6][2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for a seat and an episcopal see.^[11]
• Early 13th century – English chair comes, through Old French, from Latin cathedra.^[10]
• 1580s – English cathedral becomes a noun.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned καθέδρα (kathédra) means a teacher's chair.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seat, chair; a hare's form; the seats of rowers.^[6][2]
2. The part one sits on, the buttocks.^[6]
3. (architecture) The base of a column.^[6]
4. A sitting posture; sitting idle, inaction; a session.^[6]
5. The chair of a teacher; a professorial chair.^[6][2]
6. The imperial throne.^[6]
7. (Byzantine) A bishop's throne, an episcopal see.^[11][3]

Related words

• ἕδρα (hédra)
• καθέζομαι (kathézomai)
• Latin cathedra
• English chair
• English cathedral

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge