Etymologically
Log in

καμπή

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 21:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /kam.pɛ̌ː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /kamˈpi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /kamˈpi/[1]

Forms

κᾰμπή (kampḗ) f (genitive κᾰμπῆς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from Ancient Greek κάμπτω (kámptō, “to bend”) + -ή (-ḗ).[1][2][3] Beekes describes it as a primary formation on the unchanging verbal stem καμπ- (kamp-), beside which the verb is a present with a y-suffix, and he lists it among the verb's derivatives together with κάμψις (kámpsis) and καμπύλος (kampúlos).[4]

The further origin of the stem is uncertain.[4][1] Wiktionary traces καμπή through Proto-Hellenic *kampā́ to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp-, an extension of *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”).[1] Beekes notes that the stem does not alternate in its vowel and marks it as possibly Pre-Greek or a European word; outside Greek he finds only scattered nouns, often with transferred meanings, so that the comparisons are uncertain: Latvian kampis (“curved wood, kettle hook”), Lithuanian kam̃pas (“corner”) and perhaps Latin campus (“field”), if this was originally “depression”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Babiniotis dates the word to a fragment of Aeschylus, in the 6th–5th century BC;[5] there the “Euboean bend” is the winding strait of the Euripus.[2] In Herodotus it is the winding of a river.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From a bend in a river or a road the word passed to the turn that chariots made in the racecourse and to the turning-post itself, in Euripides, Aristophanes and Plato.[3][2] Euripides uses it figuratively for the point at which a plan enters its second stage.[3] In music it was a sudden turn or modulation of a melody, in Aristophanes and Pherecrates;[2][3] in rhetoric it was the rounding off of a period.[2] Plato and Aristotle use it for the bending of the body and its limbs and for a joint.[2][3] The Septuagint has it for a corner of the wall in Nehemiah.[6]

Medieval vernacular Greek also used it for a hump.[7] Modern Greek καμπή (kampí) is a learned borrowing from the ancient noun,[8] used above all of a turning point in events or in a life.[9] According to Beekes, Late Latin gamba (“leg”) and Albanian këmbë (“leg, foot”) were borrowed from καμπή.[4] Babiniotis explains the variety of the loans by the range of the Greek word's senses (bending, turning, joint) and traces Modern Greek γάμπα (gámpa, “calf of the leg”) back to it through Italian gamba.[5]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus calls the strait of the Euripus a “Euboean bend”.[2][5][10]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the windings of a river.[2][3][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of the turning-post in a racecourse and of a twist in a melody.[2][3][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the flexion of limbs in walking.[2][10]
  • Septuagint – In Nehemiah it is a corner of the city wall.[6]
  • Medieval Greek – It also means a hump.[7]
  • Modern Greek – καμπή, a learned form, means a bend and a turning point.[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bend, winding, especially of a river.[3][2]
  2. The turning-post of a racecourse;[3] (figurative) a turning point, the start of a new stage.[3][2]
  3. A turn, reversal of direction.[3]
  4. The bending of a limb; a joint.[3][2]
  5. A curve, curvature, as opposed to straightness; a curved part.[3][2]
  6. (music) A sudden turn in a melody, a modulation.[3][2]
  7. (rhetoric) The rounding off of a period.[2]
  8. (Koine) A corner, turning of a wall.[6]

Word family

  • ἐπικαμπή (epikampḗ)
  • συγκαμπή (sunkampḗ)
  • ὑποκαμπή (hupokampḗ)
  • κάμπτω (kámptō)
  • καμψός (kampsós)
  • κάμψις (kámpsis)
  • καμπύλος (kampúlos)
  • καμπτήρ (kamptḗr)
  • Late Latin gamba
  • Italian gamba

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge