Etymologically
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κείρω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /kěː.rɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈci.ro/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈci.ro/[1]

Forms

κείρω (keírō) [1] Future κερῶ, Ionic κερέω, aorist ἔκειρα, epic ἔκερσα, aorist passive ἐκάρην, perfect passive κέκαρμαι, from which late Greek made an active κέκαρκα.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *keřřō,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kér-ye-, a present with the suffix *-yeti from the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).[1][5][6][7] The root is widespread, but no other language has exactly the Greek verb forms.[5][6][4] The nearest are Old Armenian քերեմ (kʻerem, “I scratch, scrape”) and Albanian shqerr (“to tear apart”), while Hittite karš- (“to cut off”) adds an s, as in Greek κουρά (kourá, “haircut”).[5][4][7] Forms with initial s include Old High German sceran (“to shave”), Old Norse skera (“to cut”) and Old English scieran, the source of the English word shear, and Lithuanian skìrti (“to separate”).[5][1][7] The epic aorist could continue an enlarged root *kert-.[5]

Plutarch derived it from κέρας (kéras), which he says meant “hair”, and Orion from that word and αἴρω (aírō).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to cut through, of severing both sinews of a leg; to cut the hair, as an offering; and to cut down timber.[9][10][3] The Odyssey uses it figuratively of consuming someone's goods, and the Iliad of a donkey eating up a field of corn.[10][3]

Semantic evolution

The core sense was cutting off hair: in Herodotus, Euripides and Lysias people cut their hair in mourning, and Herodotus describes cropping the manes of horses.[3][2] It was also used for cutting down trees and corn, and hence for laying waste a country, clearing a plain for an army, or destroying enemies, in Herodotus, Thucydides and Aeschylus.[3] The derivative κέρμα (kérma), a piece cut off, became the word for small change.[6]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is to shear sheep, in Acts in a quotation of Isaiah about “the shearer”, and in the middle it is to have one's hair cut, in Acts because of a vow.[11][12] Modern Greek uses κουρεύω (kourévo), a medieval verb from κουρά (kourá), whose first sense was the tonsure of monks.[13]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of cutting sinews, hair and timber, and the Odyssey of devouring someone's goods.[9][10]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis has the passive of land laid waste.[3][14]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of cutting the hair in mourning, of cropping horses and of ravaging land.[3][2][14]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of laying waste a place.[3][14]
  • 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles uses it of sheep shearing and of a vow to cut one's hair.[11]
  • Medieval Greek – κουρεύω (kourévo), from κουρά, takes over the sense “to cut hair”.[13]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cut off or through: of beams and branches; of sinews.[3][9]
  2. To cut off or shave the hair, especially in mourning; in the middle, to cut one's own hair or have it cut.[3][2][11]
  3. To shear sheep; to crop the mane of horses.[3][11]
  4. To cut down trees or corn; to harvest.[3]
  5. To clear or ravage a country; of a god, to destroy people.[3]
  6. To tear at, of vultures and fish at a body.[3]
  7. To eat up, consume: of a donkey in a cornfield; of guests eating up someone's wealth.[3][10]

Word family

  • ἀκαρής (akarḗs)
  • ἀποκείρω (apokeírō)
  • ἐπικείρω (epikeírō)
  • κατακείρω (katakeírō)
  • κέρμα (kérma)
  • περικείρω (perikeírō)
  • κουρά (kourá)
  • English shear

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c 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
  5. ^ a b c d e 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 c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ a b c Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  9. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  10. ^ a b c d Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge