καταστροφή

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ka.tas.tro.pʰɛ̌ː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ka.tas.troˈɸi/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ka.tas.troˈfi/^[1]

Forms

κᾰτᾰστροφή (katastrophḗ) f (genitive κᾰτᾰστροφῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, “to overturn; to subdue; to bring to an end”) with the suffix -ή (-ḗ).^[1][2] The verb is formed from κατά (katá, “down”) and στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus uses it for the overturning of established laws, in the Eumenides, and for the end or resolution of a situation, in the Suppliants: “nowhere is there an end without grief”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the subjugation of cities and peoples.^[3][2] It also meant an end or conclusion, of a book, a discussion or a series of events, and the end of life, death, in Sophocles, Thucydides and Polybius.^[3][2] In drama it was the dénouement, the final turn of the plot, in Antiphanes and Polybius.^[3][2] The Aristotelian Problems use it for the return of a vibrating string to rest, and Menander for ruin.^[3]

In the Septuagint it is overthrow and destruction, as in Genesis.^[4][5] Medieval Greek kept it, and Modern Greek καταστροφή (katastrofí) is destruction and disaster, a sense reinforced by French catastrophe.^[6][7] The word passed into many European languages.^[1]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for overturning and for an end.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for subjugation.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for the end of life.^[3][2]
• 4th century BC – Antiphanes uses it for the ending of a play.^[3]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for destruction.^[4]
• 6th century AD – A papyrus uses it for a crane.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An overturning.^[3][2]
2. Subjugation, conquest.^[3][2]
3. An end, conclusion; the end of life, death.^[3][2]
4. (drama) The dénouement, the ending of a play.^[3][2]
5. The return of a vibrating string to rest.^[3][1]
6. Ruin, destruction.^[3][4]
7. A crane.^[3]

Related words

• καταστρέφω (katastréphō)
• στρέφω (stréphō)
• ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ)
• English catastrophe

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki