Etymologically
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καταπέλτης

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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]
  • 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)