καταπέλτης

Forms

καταπέλτης (katapéltēs) m (genitive καταπέλτου); first declension; the literary spelling of καταπάλτης (katapáltēs).^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is the spelling usual in literary texts of καταπάλτης (katapáltēs), which Athenian inscriptions have.^[1][3] That word is formed from κατά (katá, “down, against”), πάλλω (pállō, “to poise, hurl”) and the agent suffix -της (-tēs): “the hurler”.^[4][1][2] The origin of πάλλω is uncertain.^[5] LIV connects it with a root ⟨*pelh₁-⟩ “to swing”, which Beekes thinks possible but unproven.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Athenian inscriptions of the 4th century BC list catapults as καταπάλται, and comic poets of the same century use the form καταπέλτης.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It was a war engine for hurling bolts or stones.^[1][2] Aristotle has the phrase “to let fly the catapult”, and Polybius and Plutarch use the word too.^[1][2] The Hippocratic writings use it for a bolt or shot.^[1] Diodorus, Chariton and the Fourth Book of Maccabees use it for an instrument of torture, which Hesychius describes as a bronze device on which executioners dislocated the limbs.^[1][6][7]

Latin took it as catapulta, from which English catapult comes.^[3] Modern Greek καταπέλτης (katapéltis) is a learned word for the ancient engine, the launching device of an aircraft carrier (after English), the loading ramp of a ferry, and figuratively anything utterly damning, such as a witness's testimony.^[3]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Athenian inscriptions list catapults.^[1]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle speaks of letting fly the catapult.^[1][2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it.^[2]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus uses it for an instrument of torture.^[1]
• 1st century AD – The Fourth Book of Maccabees uses it for torture.^[6][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A catapult, an engine of war for hurling bolts or stones.^[1][2]
2. A bolt, shot.^[1]
3. An instrument of torture.^[1][7]

Related words

• καταπάλτης (katapáltēs)
• πάλλω (pállō)
• English catapult

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)