καταστρέφω

Forms

κᾰτᾰστρέφω (katastréphō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).^[1][2] Beekes considers the root of στρέφω (stréphō) Pre-Greek, because it has no Indo-European cognates and varies between β and φ with στρεβλός (streblós, “twisted”), although the LIV lists it as Indo-European.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, where it means to turn something down and trample it underfoot.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “turn over” covered turning the soil with the plough and turning a cup upside down to drain it.^[4][6] From it came “overturn, upset”, in Aristophanes of an orator who throws a city into disarray, and “ruin”.^[4][6] In the middle voice, from Herodotus and Thucydides on, it meant to make a people or a country one's own, to subdue it, often to make it pay tribute.^[4][6]

Another line of senses is “turn towards an end”: Aeschylus asks where a speech is heading, while Polybius and later writers use the verb for bringing a speech or a book to its close and, used alone, for coming to an end, especially for dying.^[4][6] Aristotle calls the periodic style of prose, whose sentences are rounded off, “turned down” (κατεστραμμένη), as against the running style.^[4][6]

The Gospels use it for overturning the tables of the money-changers, and early Christian writers use it for ruining or leading astray.^[7] The noun καταστροφή (katastrophḗ), first in Aeschylus, is the source of French catastrophe, through which it returned to Modern Greek in new senses.^[2] Medieval Greek kept the verb.^[8] In Modern Greek καταστρέφω (katastréfo) is a learned word with the Hellenistic sense “destroy”; the ancient sense was “overturn”.^[9][2]

Timeline

• Homeric Hymns – The Hymn to Apollo uses it of trampling something underfoot.^[4][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of turning a speech towards its end.^[4][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the middle voice of subduing peoples.^[4][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of upsetting a city.^[4][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the perfect participle of the periodic style.^[4][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of ruining a kingdom and of bringing a book to its end.^[4][6]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it of overturning the money-changers' tables.^[7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it, without an object, for dying.^[4]
• Modern Greek – καταστρέφω (katastréfo) is a learned word meaning “destroy”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn down or over: to trample underfoot, to turn the soil, to turn a vessel upside down.^[4][6]
2. To overturn, upset; to ruin a person, a city or a kingdom.^[4][6][7]
3. (middle) To subdue, make subject to oneself, often so as to make tributary, and (passive) to be subdued.^[4][6]
4. To turn in a certain direction, to direct, especially a speech towards its end.^[4][6]
5. To bring to an end, conclude a speech or book, or (intransitive) to come to an end, especially to die.^[4][6]
6. (rhetoric, perfect passive participle) Of style: periodic, rounded off.^[4][6]
7. (early Christian) To mislead, lead astray.^[7]

Word family

• καταστροφή (katastrophḗ)

Related words

• στρέφω (stréphō)
• English catastrophe

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d 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
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki