καρπός

καρπός¹ fruit

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /kar.pós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /karˈpos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /karˈpos/^[1]

Forms

κᾰρπός (karpós) m (genitive κᾰρποῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for fruit is usually taken as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pluck, harvest”), so that it first meant “what is plucked”.^[2][3][4] The comparison with Latin carpō (“to pluck”) is generally accepted, and the Germanic word for autumn, Old High German herbist, belongs with it.^[3][4][2] Others add Lithuanian kerpù (“to cut with scissors”) and Hittite karp- (“to take away, pluck”).^[2][4] Wiktionary gives the Proto-Hellenic form as *karpós.^[1]

The ⟨α⟩ is the difficulty.^[2] Frisk and Chantraine allow that it continues a syllabic *r̥;^[4][3] Beekes objects that this would normally have given ⟨ρα⟩ in Greek and ⟨or⟩ in Mycenaean, and suggests that the word may be a loan, perhaps from a European substrate.^[2][4][3] Babiniotis connects it with κείρω (keírō, “to cut”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is already Mycenaean: a Knossos tablet has ka-po, “fruits”, of olives.^[6][3][5] In Homer and Hesiod it is always singular, mostly of the fruits of the earth and grain, but also of grapes, the lotus and the cornel.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus and Attic it covers all produce of field and tree, often in the plural, and Thucydides uses the gathering of the καρπός for the harvest.^[7] Theophrastus defined it as the seed together with its seed vessel.^[7] Euripides calls children the fruit of Zeus; in Xenophon it also means returns and profits;^[7] Aeschylus speaks of oracles bearing fruit.^[7]

The Septuagint has the fruit of the womb and the fruit of one's deeds and lips, and in the New Testament the word is constant for crops and for the outcome of a life.^[9][10] Medieval Greek kept it,^[11] and Modern Greek καρπός (karpós) keeps the senses “fruit of the earth” and “benefit”, and two of its senses follow French fruit.^[12] Babiniotis lists Modern Greek derivatives such as καρπερός (karperós), from Medieval Greek.^[5] English carpo- comes from a Latinized form of it.^[13]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – A Knossos tablet has ka-po, “fruits”.^[6]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the fruit of the field.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the plural for crops.^[7][14]
• 5th century BC – Euripides calls children the fruit of Zeus.^[7][14]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus defines it as seed with its seed vessel.^[7][14]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for offspring and for the fruit of deeds.^[9]
• Modern Greek – καρπός means fruit and profit.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Fruit, especially the fruits of the earth, grain; also grapes and other fruit.^[7][8]
2. In general, produce; in the plural, crops.^[7]
3. (botany) The seed with its seed vessel.^[7]
4. (figurative) Offspring.^[7][9]
5. Returns, profit; the fruit or result of an action.^[7][10]

Word family

• ἄκαρπος (ákarpos)
• εὔκαρπος (eúkarpos)
• πολύκαρπος (polúkarpos)
• κάρπιμος (kárpimos)
• καρπίζω (karpízō)
• καρπόω (karpóō)
• περικάρπιον (perikárpion)
• καρποφύλαξ (karpophúlax)

καρπός² wrist

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /kar.pós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /karˈpos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /karˈpos/^[1]

Forms

κᾰρπός (karpós) m (genitive κᾰρποῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for the wrist is perhaps inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷerp- (“to turn”), so that the wrist was the joint on which the hand turns; it is then compared with a Germanic verb for turning, Old High German hwerban and Old Norse hverfa.^{[2][4][15][1]} Greek would then have had *κϝαρπός (kwarpós), with the loss of the w before a following labial, as in καπνός (kapnós) and κόλπος (kólpos).^[3][4] Beekes finds the comparison uncertain because the verb is only Germanic, and Pokorny adds καρπάλιμος (karpálimos, “swift”).^[2][15] Michler took it for the same word as καρπός “fruit”;^[2] Chantraine calls this improbable.^[2][3] Babiniotis also keeps the two words apart.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the wrist: in the Iliad a warrior is wounded in the arm at the wrist (5.458), and Achilles takes Priam's right hand at the wrist (24.671).^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Hippocratic medicine and Aristotle's zoology use it for the wrist, and Euripides speaks of “the wrists of the hands”.^[7] Chantraine notes that it is rare as a first element of compounds, as in καρπόδεσμος (karpódesmos, “wrist bandage”) in Soranus, and that the medical μετακάρπιον (metakárpion, “bones of the hand”) is formed with a preposition.^[3] In the Septuagint it also means the palm or the hand.^[9] Modern Greek καρπός (karpós) “wrist” is a learned word, with derivatives such as καρπιαίος (karpiaíos).^[12][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the wrist.^[8][7]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers and Euripides use it.^[7][14]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in his zoology.^[7][14]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Soranus has the compound καρπόδεσμος.^[3][14]
• Modern Greek – καρπός “wrist” is a learned word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The wrist.^[7][8]
2. (Septuagint) The palm; the hand.^[9]

Word family

• μετακάρπιον (metakárpion)
• καρπόδεσμος (karpódesmos)

Related words

• Latin carpō
• English carpo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 h i 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. ^ a b c d e f g Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d e Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
15. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke